Worthless
by Sir Fret
Summary: Feeling guilty for Jasper's downfall, Steven takes it upon himself to try and heal the corrupted gem. He never expected it to be an easy task, but as time goes by, Steven begins to think that this is more than he can handle. Takes place after 'Mindful Education'. Will not follow the canon storyline beyond that point.
1. Chapter 1 - Just a Thought

The sky was a cool baby blue, dotted with white, puffy clouds. The sun rays bounced off the dull rocks teasingly, while a gentle breeze would weave in and out of each individual blade of grass and caress the dirt, while above the ground, seagulls would glide on the weak gust of wind, white wings stretched out beside them as each feather - each one withholding a purpose - slid along the wind, directing the bird in different directions as their eyes scanned the ground in search of abandoned food scraps.

On the ledge of a cliff, settled just behind the rim of a large statue's hair, lay to figures. Both of them were gazing at the clouds as they drifted overhead, ever so slowly. Occasionally, the slimmer figure would point out a familiar face staring back at them through the evaporated water, before letting her arm drop back onto the grass.

Today was beautiful. It was days like these that the citizens of Beach City had come to appreciate. Yet… there was an eerie silence lingering in the air. A sound was missing.

"Steven?"

The boy blinked, jerking his head away from the cloud hovering thousands of feet above him. His brown eyes landed on his friend lying next to him, who was staring at him with a concerned look.

"Yeah, Connie?"

"You've been awfully quiet…" she said, furrowing her brow. "Are you alright?"

Steven visibly tensed up and he tore his gaze away from her.

"Uh… yeah. I'm fine." He forced a cheerful tone. It came out flat.

He heard the grass rustle as the girl sat up, staring him down with empathetic eyes.

"Steven… is this about…" she clenched her teeth nervously, debating whether or not to finish what she was about to say. "The other day?"

The other day. It didn't need a name - Steven knew what day she was talking about. He sighed, defeated, and threw his arms back so that they would land on the ground, stretched out beside his head.

"Yeah…"

Connie shifted herself so that her legs would be crossed, and that she would be facing him directly. Steven chanced looking back at her, but didn't move from his position.

"Who were they all, anyway? I-I mean…" She fiddled with her thumbs anxiously. "One of them was Jasper, right? What happened to her?"

Steven exhaled, before pushing himself off of the grass, some pieces clinging to his curly hair and the salmon-pink fabric of his shirt. Connie looked as if she were about to take back what she had just said, but he interrupted her.

"She became corrupted," he replied sadly, leaning his arms on his knees. His fluttered her lashes.

"Corrupted? Like, she became a monster?"

He nodded, his head practically being dragged up and down. "I… I tried to help her. I wanted to try and heal her before it got any worse, but she just wouldn't listen! I…" He gulped. "I failed her…"

Connie gaze oozed with pity. She brought up her hand and placed it on his shoulder.

"But you tried. That's what matters. It's not your fault that she wouldn't let you do anything!" Yet, one thing still didn't make sense to her. "I just don't understand why she didn't let you..."

Steven pouted, his eyes glistening. "Just… a lot of things to do with my mom." He shrugged. "I learned a lot of stuff about her that week… and not good stuff."

He was more than grateful that she didn't press on with that subject - it was something he needed more time to process before he talked about it with anyone.

"Maybe it would've been different, though. If they saw me as Steven instead of her," he murmured, his hand moving down to grip his navel. "That's why it all happened." His brown eyes trailed into the distance, beyond Beach City below them. Connie followed wherever his gaze took him, her own pupils landing on the countryside miles away from where they sat.

"That's why Peridot and Lapis became my friends. They see me as Steven, not Rose Quartz."

Connie's gaze flickered back to Steven, who still had his eyes on the lush hills in the distance.

"Can't you change their minds?" she asked. The boy bit the inside of his cheek.

"Well… I doubt I'll ever see Eyeball again-" he turned to face her, "-she was the Ruby with one eye. And Bismuth… I don't know." His eyes grew watery again. "Maybe one day, but… I just don't know."

She tilted her head to the side. "Did she come from Homeworld?"

Steven shook his head. "That's just it. She's a Crystal Gem, but…" He squeezed his eyes shut. "She might lash out at me. I mean, so would Eyeball and Jasper, but they have somewhere to go afterwards. Bismuth wouldn't."

He knew that Connie was completely lost to what story was behind Bismuth being poofed, but she decided against asking.

"And… I guess Jasper's out the question." She tucked her knees under her chin and draped her arms around her calves.

Steven chewed on his lip, looking unsure. "I wouldn't say that… I mean, I was close to healing a corrupted gem."

Connie widened her eyes. "What? When was this?" She edged forward, the new information intriguing her.

Steven blinked, surprised by her reaction. "Oh. I never told you?"

She shook her head.

"Oh… sorry. It didn't end very well, so I guess I just… didn't wanna talk about it." He saw her face drop, which urged him to add, "But I'll tell you now! I mean, it didn't go as I planned, but she's happy."

Her expression lit up. "That's good! And who's 'she'?"

A corner of his mouth picked up. "'She' is Centipeetle. I mean, that's not her actual name, but I named her back when I released her accidently…"

He proceeded to tell the story about how he had befriended the centipede-like gem on one of his earlier missions, only for her to sacrifice herself and get poofed once again. Then he told her about how he had tried to heal her with his healing spit, how it had only half-worked, but still worked. Connie's eyes shone at the part about their blooming friendship, but a frown formed when he got to the part about her reverting back to her corrupted state. Eventually she found her smile again, once he got to the end about Centi finally finding her crew after thousands of years. In fact, that part warranted some tears. Steven took note of this, and arched a brow.

"Are you okay?" he questioned, beginning to regret revealing the story of his corrupted bud.

She nodded, grinning and wiping her tears with the back of her hand, then wiped the liquid on the grass.

"That's so sweet… how her crew waited for her after all those years."

Steven smiled gingerly. "Yeah… it is." Then he frowned again. "I wish Jasper had a crew that was waiting for her…"

"But didn't she come with a- oh..." She stopped herself as she answered her own question. "They're not really her _crew_ anymore, are they?"

"Honestly? Out of all the gems on Earth, it's those two that I wouldn't dare let her approach," he grunted.

"Really?" Both of her brows picked up. "You don't think she'd be more mad at you guys instead of them?"

He gritted his teeth, his head sinking between his shoulders. "Well… one of them was the one who poofed her, while the other… erm… well, I told you about Malachite, didn't I?"

She pursed her lips. "Yeah, I guess." She fiddled with her fingers. "So you don't think you can heal Jasper, then?"

Steven gripped the grass, his digits curling up, nails digging into the dirt. "I don't know. I don't know much about corruption and how it works, but…" He squinted. "She wasn't corrupted like the others. She just kinda… caught it. Like a disease."

Connie remained silent, but Steven could see curiousity seep into her expression.

"She fused with a corrupted gem, she wasn't damaged by the Diamonds like Centipeetle was," he briefly explained. Connie gave a nod of understanding, allowing him to continue. "I mean, I could _try_ , but I don't know what would happen afterwards. She didn't want my help because she thought I was manipulating her to join our side."

She was taken aback at this. "That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "You're not manipulative! You're kind, caring and just want to help!" The corners of her eyes creased as she offered a warm smile. Steven couldn't help but blush, as her smile was contagious.

"Heh… thanks, Connie," he chuckled shyly. "And, yeah. I'd never manipulate anyone to join our side. I love making new friends, and would love it even more if they stayed with us forever, but if don't want to do that, I can't make them." His gaze flickered off into the distance again, towards the barn that Lapis and Peridot had settled in. "I just want to help. If they don't wanna be my friend afterwards… that's okay. I just don't want to leave them when I'm able to do something that can help them."

Connie gazed at him thoughtfully. "Why don't you just tell Jasper that?" she suggested. Steven stared at her with uncertainty.

"Would she believe me?" he wondered. She shrugged.

"It's worth a try, right?" She smiled sheepishly. "You can try and heal her, and if it works, then maybe she'll at least thank you."

The idea was appealing to Steven. "Maybe, but…" The image of a half-healed Centipeetle flashed in his mind. "I doubt it would work completely. Even if she wasn't corrupted by the Diamonds, I doubt my healing spit could heal Jasper so that she would be back to normal. I don't even know if she would be able to speak!"

The two stared at nothing as they thought of all the different possibilities, different outcomes to such an idea. What if Jasper didn't heal at all? What is some of her healed, but not enough that she could be kept un-poofed? What if she lashed out at Steven or anyone else before he could explain his intentions?

But what if it _worked_?

"...I'll think about it," Steven finally said. Connie glanced up at him, surprised, but clearly pleased.

"You're gonna do it?"

"Maybe," he corrected her. "I have to talk to- or, maybe _persuade_ them to give it a chance."

His friend chuckled. "Yeah, I can imagine." She craned her neck up to look at the sky, and gasped, her finger shooting to somewhere behind Steven.

"Oh, that one looks like a lizard!" she proclaimed. He swung his head around, searching the sky frantically for what she was directing him towards, until he finally saw a cloud that held a rough shape of the slim body of a lizard.

"Oh yeah, I see it!"

They sat there for what was left of this beautiful day, Steven's joyful voice now accompanying the faint sound as the waves lapped onto the shore below them. All the while, thoughts of Jasper buzzing in Steven's mind, as much as he tried to distract himself with the shapes the clouds painted.

 _It's worth a try, right?_


	2. Chapter 2 - Give it a Chance

It had been two days. Two days that had been quiet and uneventful - Beach City had been quiet, as had pretty much everywhere else. No corrupted gems to catch, no artifacts to collect, no ships from Homeworld threatening the Earth and causing the residents to evacuate.

Yet, for Steven, things were piling up.

After his talk with Connie, he couldn't push Jasper out of his mind. Ever since she was poofed for the first time, he had never wanted to just leave her in that bubble. But actually going ahead and healing her? It seemed like it was out of the question. And yet, here he was, lying on his couch, leg and arm hanging over the edge, as he _questioned_ what would be best. That's all he had been doing these past two days.

He was broke out of his thoughts when he felt the leather of the couch dip just beyond the top of his hair. He tilted his head back, seeing a tall, red figure gazing down at him with eyes that he couldn't see.

"Hi, Garnet," he greeted, forcing a smile. Garnet's expression, or at least what he could see, didn't change.

"Something's been on your mind," she stated bluntly. Steven tried to hide his shock, stilling his body as much as he could, but he knew that the fusion could see right through his act. She had three eyes beneath that visor, after all.

"What? Pshh… no…" He flickered his wrist, waving his hand in a gesture that would blow off any kind of suspicions she may have.

Garnet said nothing. Just stared him down, which, even without visible eyes, was very intimidating. Steven felt beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead, and hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath until his lungs began to scream at him to let out the carbon dioxide, and inhale oxygen. He pushed himself up and swung his one leg over the edge, while shifting his body around so that he was sitting on the sofa normally.

"Alright, you got me," he sighed. "Yeah… something's been on my mind lately."

He felt a hand land on his head, squishing his brown curly hair. He glanced at her nervously, already guessing what her reaction would be as soon as she got him to spill the beans.

"You want to try and heal Jasper."

Nevermind, she just did the hardest job for him.

He tilted his chin back and looked straight at her, eyes wide and guilty.

"I'm sorry, Garnet, it's just-"

"I know." She interrupted. "I know it's hard accepting losing someone who you know you could've helped," her head drooped a little, as if she were thinking of an experience of her own, "but some things you just can't help. Something we love about you is your determination, Steven. One of your greatest strengths is your need to help everyone around you." A corner of her plump lips picked up. "But you must understand, not everyone will accept it. Jasper is one of those beings who has already refused."

Those words made Steven's heart twist into a knot. His face scrunched up, the thought of Jasper being trapped in that bubble for the rest of her existence haunting him.

"I know I can't help everyone, but…" His eyes narrowed, now from said determination. "No one else can help her but me!" His knees were raised from their relaxed sitting position. "I know she hates me. I know she hates all of us. But I can't just leave her in there!" He furrowed his brow. "I gave Lapis and Peridot a chance. And… I get Jasper doesn't want anything to do with the Crystal Gems, but if I could just heal her-"

"Steven." A hand on each shoulder silenced him. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but there's no guarantee that healing her will work as well as it did with the Centipeetle. And even with her, she still reverted back to her corrupted state."

The memory of her cries rang in Steven's head, until he shook the thought away. "I know, but Jasper wasn't corrupted by the Diamonds. What if it's different with her?"

He gazed at Garnet with pleading eyes. The gem paused for a moment, as if considering what he had just suggested. This flared up some hope inside him.

"It's a possibility," she hummed, finger and thumb now cupping her chin. "And she hasn't been corrupted for long."

Steven grew even more excited, a grin beginning to spread across his face. "Yeah! It's been like… a couple of weeks, right?"

"I'm not saying _yes_ to this, Steven-"

"But you _are_ saying _maybe_?" he sang, eyes now wide and glittering. Garnet was visibly discomforted by the sight of his puppy-dog eyes.

She finally let out a sigh. "I'll talk it out with Pearl and Amethyst. But no promises, okay?" She told him firmly as she stood up. However, he barely heard that last part, as the enthusiasm bubbling inside of him distracted him from any sort of warning. He leaped off the couch and wrapped around Garnet's leg, hugging it tightly.

"Yes! Oh, thank you, Garnet!" he cheered. Garnet gazed down at him and couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"I can't do anything if you keep hold of my leg," she stated. Steven's eyes shot open and he released his grip on her.

"Right, sorry." He chuckled nervously.

* * *

"Absolutely not!"

Steven frowned at Pearl, whose eyes were wide with astoundment at such a suggestion.

"But, Pearl-"

"There is no way we're _healing_ Jasper!" she berated. "It could go horribly wrong. I don't even want to think about it!"

"Things didn't go so bad with Centi, though," Steven protested, before turning to Amethyst, who was slouching over the kitchen counter, kicking her short, stubby legs childishly. "What do you think, Amethyst?"

The quartz gem shrugged, glancing away casually. "I dunno, man. Seems pretty risky."

"But you're all about risky!" he retorted desperately. Amethyst held her hands out in front of her defensively.

"I know, I know. And yeah, it sucks that she got corrupted. I never wanted that to happen to anyone. Not even her." Her voice grew soft, which is how Steven knew that she was taking this more seriously than she usually took most things. "But we don't know how this will play out. I mean… what happens after you heal her? I mean, no offence, but I doubt it'll work in the way you want it to."

"I know that. I just need to convince her that I'm not trying to make her join our side, and that I just want to help her."

Pearl scoffed. "And you think she'll believe you? Must I remind you that this is Jasper that we're talking about?"

Garnet then took a step forward, standing beside Steven. "Let's think about this. How is Jasper most likely going to react?"

"Don't ask us, you're the one with the future vision," Amethyst shrugged.

"And there's no way to know for sure," Pearl added, her tone calming down. "For all we know, she might lunge at Steven as soon as he releases her from the bubble!" She then immediately became more panicked. The boy looked dejected.

Then Garnet spoke up. "I see the possibility that she will be half-healed, similar to Centipeetle. How will you respond if this is the case, which is most likely?"

Steven bit his lip as he thought. "I… before Centi reverted, I was going to let her stay here. What if I do the same with her?"

Pearl grew discomforted at the thought, Steven could tell by how she tensed up, fingers twitching anxiously along with her shoulders raised.

"I don't know, Steven. I just don't trust her to stay here. With you. Alone." She shivered, her blue eyes rolling over the house.

"One of us can watch him," Amethyst suggested half-heartedly. "I mean, I doubt I can do much if she snaps, but we can always fuse and get Smokey to do our buis' for us."

"Guys, don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

The three gems turned to Steven with confused looks upon their faces. He eyes were full of pity, tinged with disappointment.

"You're all assuming that she's gonna fight back, but… if I'm her only chance that she'll get better, why would she do that?"

Pearl and Amethyst shared uncertain glances, while Garnet stared at something unbenounced to them as she was lost in thought.

"She didn't want your help last time, Steven," Amethyst reminded him. Steven's face scrunched up at the memory of her helpless form as the corruption slowly constricted her body, crawling up one arm, then the other, until finally it could infect her mind. He shook the image of her face, full of pain, yet still burning with hatred, out of his mind, not allowing Amethysts words to deter him.

"I know, but just because she doesn't _want_ my help, doesn't mean that she doesn't _need_ it!" he argued, fists clenched stubbornly. "I've just got to convince her of that - if she still hates me afterwards, I'll be okay with it."

Amethyst and Pearl stared at him, surprise and even some pride sparkling in their gaze. Then, for the first time, Pearl offered a supportive smile.

"I can't say that you're wrong, Steven," she admitted. "Because, as terrible as she's been to us, no one deserves what she got." Her voice grew quieter when she said that, light blue eyes darkening, mouth covered by curled up fingers. He relaxed in seeing this, and returned her smile.

"Exactly. I just want to at least try…" He latched onto the joint in the middle of his arm with his hand. "I can't just leave her like that."

He saw Amethyst look at Garnet, the corner of her lip quirking up.

"You can't say no to that," she laughed, hopping down from the kitchen counter to walk over to his side, then gave him a friendly nudge with her elbow, earning a chuckle from him. He then turned to face Garnet, whose lips were pursed. He heard her hum quietly, as if Ruby and Sapphire were debating with each other, and all that could come out was a 'Hmm'.

Pearl let out a sigh, sauntering to Garnet's side. "If we do this… there's just so many risks, I just don't know-"

Garnet lay a hand on her shoulder, which clamped her mouth shut.

"This is risky," she started, a serious tone that worried Steven that she was about to say no. However, this was not the case.

"But nothing we can't handle."

Steven's eyes lit up, joy about to burst out of his chest. If anything, it allowed him to leap into the air, carrying him all the way up to Garnet's height so that she could wrap his arms around her neck.

"Yes! Oh, thank you, Garnet!" he exclaimed. Garnet smiled, and sighed,

"You've already done this today."

"I know," Steven smiled sheepishly, letting go of the fusion and jumping back down, floating through the air until his feet touched the wooden floor below. "I just really want to help her."

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Amethyst asked, a wide grin plastered on her face, already marching forward towards the temple door. However, she had only taken a few steps when Pearl grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Wait, wait," she muttered, edging Amethyst back to her original position. "We can't just waltz in the burning room and pop her bubble and hope for the best!" She furrowed her brow and gritted her teeth. "We need to think about this." She exchanged a look with Garnet, searching for support, who nodded.

"Pearl's right. Let's think this through, then take action whenever Steven's ready."

After discussing their plan, as well as their many, many backup plans (mostly thought out by Pearl), Steven, Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl each made their way to the burning room, Steven leading the way. He graciously hopped down from the entrance, followed by his family who jumped after him nervously. His dark brown eyes scanned the cluster of pink bubbles, searching for the familiar orange-coloured gem that was known to be Jasper's. Eventually, he spotted it, letting out an 'Ah-ha!' once she did, before jumping up and latching onto the magenta bubble, and dragged it down with him.

Once he landed on the rocky floor, he found his own imperfect reflection staring right back at him, curved by the roundness of the bubble. The longer he locked eyes with his own, the more uncertain he thought he looked.

"Are you _sure_ you want to do this, Steven?" Pearl's voice made him whip his head around to face her. Her words began to make his stomach churn and hands tremble, to the point where he thought he would drop the bubble.

He then inhaled deeply, letting go of his worries. "Yes, I'm sure." His gaze looked as if it were about to split into the surface of the bubble and pop it just like that, but luckily that didn't happen. He chewed on his bottom lip, both mentally and physically preparing himself for what was about to happen.

"Whenever you're ready, Steven," Garnet cooed softly. He gave her a gracious look as his digits twitched, each second passing by, one slower than the last.

"Wait."

The gems paused, wondering why Steven had stopped.

"We should take her outside," he said, which just confused the others more. "Because she's gonna be… pretty big." He looked at Amethyst, waiting for her to agree with him, as she had been a witness to her corrupted form. The quartz huffed in agreement.

"She'll probably knock all the other bubbles over." She gestured a finger towards the other contained gems. Pearl and Garnet exchanged glances, before nodding.

"Alright, let's move," their leader commanded, making her way to the exit. The others followed close behind, Steven taking his time with each step, not paying attention to his surroundings, as his eyes were fixed on the bubble pressed against his palms. He gazed the the small gemstone contained inside, a mixture of emotions buzzing in his brain.

 _Please, let me help you,_ he pleaded internally.

"Right, here should be good."

Steven snapped out of his thoughts, and was surprised to see that they were already outside, on the beach.

Suddenly, things felt too real.

"Let's get this over with," Amethyst insisted, already summoning her weapon. Pearl mimicked her teammate, slipping her spear out of her gem. The three of them spread around, forming a circle around the bubble, and were ready for any sort of fight they would have to partake in if things went wrong.

Steven tried to control his shaking limbs, before nodding.

"Okay," he breathed, before placing the bubble down on the ground. He hesitated for a split second, still questioning himself to whether or not he was making a mistake, but he figured there was no going back now. He pressed down, until the bubble popped and disappeared into thin air, releasing Jasper's gem.

"Brace yourselves!" Garnet called as Steven stumbled back, waiting for the corrupted quartz soldier to form. For a moment, her gem was still, lying on the ground with no sign of life. Then, it began to glow. It glowed so bright, Steven had to look away.

From the corner of his eye, he saw a white silhouette form in front of him. He chanced a glance, and saw that it was not the large monster's shape he had expected. He recognized the figure of Jasper's regular form, as her features began to grow from her body - most notably her wild, unkempt hair. Still just white-coloured light, the gem gripped the sand, her fingers creasing up the tighter she did so.

Part of him was hoping that this was it; she would be back to normal. But he knew that was impossible, and that the worst was yet to come.

He shuffled away from her as her arms, that were already huge as they were, rippled and stretched out, her hands becoming more animalistic, more identical to how they looked when she was corrupted. Her hair grew longer, becoming more tangled as it did so, and she remained on all fours the whole time.

"Steven! Now's your chance!" Garnet called. Steven glanced at her, seeing that she had one foot behind the other, gauntlets out and fists clenched. He knew she was right - he had to do this, now or never.

He grunted as she darted forward, jumping as he slapped his hand on his tongue, collecting a good amount of saliva on his palm. He reared his hand back, waiting until her gem was right in front of it. Once it was, he threw it forward, landing it squarely on her gem. The pointed edge dug into his skin, which stung, making him wince. As he built up some force on his arm so that he could use Jasper's form to push himself away from her, he felt the pain disappear, most likely due to his healing spit. He fell backwards, ending up landing on his rear end rather than his feet. He sat there, frozen, watching the process of his healing spit take place on the soldier.

For a moment, nothing happened, scaring Steven in that he thought his healing powers had failed him. But relief flooded through him when he saw the huge, monstrous figure begin to shrink, starting from her large upper body. He watched in awe as her waist became more slim, as well as her chest becoming smaller and dipping into a neck on the top. Her head began to revert from her round beastly face to the familiar shape that he knew to be Jasper. Her hind legs began to stretch out, mass from her front looking as if it were lending it to her thighs and calves. Her hair retreated back towards its roots, until it began to look more identical to Amethyst's, only a little longer and more wild.

Last were her arms. Her right arm began to break through the spiny skin that coated her normal muscles, and her long claws retracted into regular sized nails. However, her other arm still held the white silhouette that belonged to a monster. Steven stared at it intently, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing did.

That was it - he had expected something like this to happen.

Steven had been so lost in watching what parts of Jasper would heal and what wouldn't that he hadn't payed attention to the roars spilling from her crooked mouth. His attention was immediately drawn to her face once he realized he could still hear monstrous screeches coming from her, and saw that her head was still in the process of transforming. He saw it shapeshift messily, her cries beginning to sound more...

Human.

No other gem had dared to move. No one knew if she was still in a fight-or-flight train of thought, and it was best not to provoke her if she was. They waited patiently for the white glow to fade, and reveal her form in its completion, but it seemed like it was taking forever.

But, honestly, her transformation from a beast to being close to her original form had only taken a few seconds.

Steven could feel his heart in his throat as the bright light finally began to fade, slowly revealing her red and orange skin, beginning from the slight hunch she had kept from her corrupted form. From there, clearness trickled down her spine, revealing her torso and eventually her legs, which all, aside from the hunch, looked normal. The light then faded from her hair, and probably her face, however those wild strands were flopped over, making it impossible for him to see. Eventually her arms were revealed, and Steven wanted to choke.

Her right arm was fine, but her left hadn't changed at all. It was identical to how he had last seen it, even the feral hand attached to her wrist.

Then, he saw some of her hair flop over to the sides, and cringed when he saw dark green spines sticking out of her shoulders, and one piercing through her sandy tresses that looked like it was coming from her head.

But what about her face?

He took a moment to find his voice. "J-Jasper?" he stammered, standing up and taking a step towards her, legs feeling like jelly. "Are you… there?"

He heard her growl, one that was a blend of her regular deep voice and her animalistic roaring. Steven flinched when she dropped onto her knees and elbows, her head hanging low. Heavy gasps were heard, which squeezed some pity for her out of Steven, and Amethyst, who loosened her grip on her whip, and took a step forward.

"Steven! Amethyst! Be careful!" Pearl warned from somewhere behind the large figure.

"Is she okay?" Amethyst asked, brow furrowed. Steven didn't reply, since he didn't know the answer. Instead, he just called out again,

"Jasper?" Another step forward. "Are you okay?"

Suddenly her head whipped up as she gasped. While Steven was relieved to see her face was identical to how she used to look, with the exception of some blue-green speckles threatening to step over her jawline, her expression made him stumble backwards until he stood next to Amethyst.

Jasper stared at him, her yellow eyes burning with all sorts of emotions, none of them positive ones. Her teeth were clenched and her lip was curled, and there were creases underneath her eyes.

"What…" she wheezed, her eyes darting around her, taking in her surroundings. "Where…" She lifted her right hand and slapped it on her head, before running her fingers through her hair. Then, her digits collided with a spine sticking out of her neck, and she paused.

Then she looked at her other arm.

Her face screwed up in horror at the sight, which began to build up even more guilt in Steven.

"Jasper, I'm sor-"

" _What did you do?_ " she screeched, cutting him off. He saw Amethyst tense next to him, bringing up her weapon, just in case. Steven shrank under her burning gaze as she continued.

"Why did you do that?" she hissed, eyes narrowing. "I never asked for you to heal me!"

Steven widened his eyes. "I-I…" He raised his hands out in front of him in defense. "I couldn't just… I couldn't just leave you like that!" He cried desperately as the gem lifted herself up from the ground, leaning on her extended, corrupted arm.

"I didn't want your help, Rose Quartz!" she spat, lip quivering. "I'm not playing your pathetic game. I _refuse_ to let you manipulate me like you did with… with…" She groaned, kneeling back down and squeezing her eyes shut, digging her nails into her corrupted arm. Concern for her began to grow as she let out a pained hiss.

Steven's first instinct was to console her, but he knew that was practically a death wish, so he forced himself to stay put.

"Is she okay?" Amethyst wondered out loud. Steven ignored her question.

"Jasper, listen," he began, fiddling with the fabric of his shirt nervously. "I'm not manipulating you. I'm not going to force you to listen to me." Jasper opened her eyes to glare at him. "I'm just going to offer to help you with this. You don't have to say yes, and even if you do, you don't have to _like_ me." He lent a smile. "In fact, if I manage to heal you completely, I'll let you go right back to trying to kill us all."

Jasper locked eyes with him, her face scrunched up in disgust.

"Was this your plan? Giving me the choice to either be your prisoner in your base or be confined in a bubble?" She scoffed, with a sense of helplessness seeping through her words. "I don't have a choice, do I?" She sneered."Very clever, Rose."

"Or, y'know, you could just kill us all now." Amethyst shrugged casually. Steven panicked, taking a step away from the half-corrupted gem.

"Uh… no. Please don't do that!" he pleaded.

Amethyst chortled, nudging his arm with her elbow. "Ha! Just kidding, dude. Besides, if she does that, what happens afterwards?" She puckered her lips, her half-lidded eyes flickered over to her fellow quartz. "I mean, she can't go back to Homeworld, right?"

Steven was about to smile, but the sight of Jasper looking away, her bangs covering most of her face, stopped him from doing so. He shot her a sympathetic look.

"You don't have to stay with us, Jasper," he suddenly said, which caught her attention. "You can just… leave. If you want to."

She held his gaze for a while longer, but couldn't reply, for Pearl suddenly dashed over to them.

"We can't just _leave_ her out there!" She gestured to the ocean, revealing the vast distance beyond the shore.

He tilted his head. "Because doing that would do more harm than good to her corrupted state?" he guessed.

Pearl pursed her lips. "I was going to say that she could do a lot of damage to the beings on Earth… but yes, that too."

Steven sighed. This was going to be difficult.

"Okay, okay, Jasper, I'll let you choose," he told her. "We can either form a truce and let me figure out some way to heal you, or we can just go back to being enemies. It's up to you." He put his hands behind his back, awaiting the gem's answer.

Jasper narrowed her eyes at him, then glanced at the gems around her, including Garnet who had come into her view. She then looked at her corrupted arm, and finally gave a disgruntled sigh.

"I don't _really_ have a choice, do I?" she muttered. "You have a talent in cornering gems, Rose." She pushed herself up again, still holding her corrupted arm. "And I don't have anything to gain from your other offers, so I'm being forced to become your prisoner."

Despite how pessimistic Jasper's view was, Steven's eyes still lit up. "You mean, you'll let me help you?"

Jasper snarled. "Unwillingly."

"Thank you, Jasper!" he exclaimed gleefully, followed by a look of determination. "I promise I won't let you down."

She didn't reply, instead just glared at him spitefully, despite his enthusiasm. Then, Amethyst chuckled.

"Alright! New roommate!" She grinned at Steven, then glanced at Pearl, who had a look of uncertainty, while looking over towards Garnet, whose expression was unreadable.

"Welp, better get you settled in, then!" Steven smiled, and began skipping towards the house.

Jasper stared after him, anything but pleased.


	3. Chapter 3 - House Guest

Steven held the door open, leaning against it as he waited for his family and visitor to pass by him. First came Amethyst, who had her arms stretched backward behind her, Pearl, who had her fingers pressed against each other anxiously, Garnet, who stopped to pat Steven's head, then carried on following her teammates, and finally Jasper, who stopped just in front of the doorway. Steven looked at her curiously, thinking that she was second guessing her decisions. He offered her a shy smile.

"It's okay, we're not going to throw you in a cell or anything," he assured her. However, the gem showed no signs of hearing him, and instead observed the wooden door frame, looking at it as if it were the most pathetic thing on Earth. She then took a step inside the house, having to duck under the frame above in order to fit, but her width would not cooperate with the narrow entrance. With a frustrated grunt, she squeezed in her large, corrupted arm through the gap, creating a dent in the frame's side as she did so. Steven did his best to not react to part of his house already being damaged, and pinned the corners of his mouth so that his grin would stay put.

The quartz refused to do so much as glance at him as she treaded past him and into the space in the middle of the house. He closed the, trying to ignore the fact that it wouldn't close properly due to the newly-made dent. As he turned around, he heard Pearl whisper,

"She could at least respect the house."

He winced as he saw Jasper roll her eyes, having heard her, before turning to him.

"So, where exactly are you going to keep me prisoner?" she grunted, a sneer beginning to show on her face. Steven blinked, surprised by her statement.

"Prisoner?" he echoed. "I'm not keeping you prisoner. If anything, you're just out guest!" He smiled at her, hoping to create a less tense atmosphere. He failed in doing so.

"How ignorant do you think I am, Rose?" she snarled, eyes amber slits. Steven frowned, then let out a sigh.

"I don't want to see you as a prisoner, Jasper. I guess only time will tell if you'll ever see it the same way." He then shook his head, wanting to move on from the subject. "But, since you _will_ be staying here, you're gonna need your own space!" His grin returned as he scanned the house, wondering where Jasper would be most comfortable in staying.

"She can always stay in my room," Amethyst offered half-heartedly. Pearl immediately shut the idea down.

"No. There is no way we are allowing her in the temple!"

Amethyst pursed her lips. "Alright! Geez." She huffed, folding her arms over her chest.

Jasper letting out an irritated groan and stalking over to the couch drew Steven's attention back to her. The soldier dropped onto the sofa, leaning back on the plush cushion and crossing her arms (or at least, tried to). An idea suddenly came to mind, and his eyes sparkled.

"You can just live down here!" he suggested happily, then directed Jasper to his bed up the stairs, to which her gaze followed, clearly disinterested. "I'll try my best to stay up there so that I don't bother you."

"But, also keep in mind," Garnet then added, head turned towards Jasper, who looked disgusted when she spoke. "At least one of us will be here to monitor your behaviour. If, by any chance, you act violently towards Steven, we will be forced to take action."

Jasper didn't respond, just glared at her, as well as the two other shorter gems standing next to her.

"So… uh…" Steven awkwardly broke the silence, twiddling his fingers. "Are you okay living on that couch for now?"

The quartz muttered something under her breath that he didn't quite catch.

"...I'll take that as a 'sure thing'." He then grinned again. "Well, let's just hope I can heal her, and we'll all be happy!"

Both Garnet and Pearl gave a smile, though it they were built out of uncertainty. However, Amethyst's grin was very real.

"Haha, yeah!" She laughed, skidding over to stand by Steven. "We just got ourselves a new roommate!"

Her enthusiasm brought a hopeful smile out of him, however it was immediately taken away from him once he looked back at Jasper, who face was scrunched up with hatred. In response, a voice screamed at the back of his mind.

 _This is a bad idea._

He took a deep breath.

 _No, it's not. I can do this._

* * *

Outside, Steven could see that the sun was retreating behind the ocean, a dark purple sky being dragged behind it and placed over the town. The first few stars were beginning to twinkle, burning millions of miles away, and while dangerous when too close to them, they were a beautiful addition to the black sheet that was the night sky. It added some sort of life to the darkness, and Steven had come to appreciate that.

"The stars look really pretty tonight," he mused as he sipped his milk, before turning to the fusion leaning against the wall beside him. "Don't you think so, Garnet?"

She chuckled, and nodded in agreement. "I can see that they'll look even better once the sun's disappeared."

His eyes shone with wonder, wondering if he'd be able to see the view that she was talking about.

"Oh! I wanna see!" he declared, beaming. "Can I stay up late to see the stars, Garnet? _Please_?" He gave her a sweet smile as his pupils glittered with their own stars. The corners of her mouth shifted so that her smile would widen.

"If you can stay awake 'til then, I'll allow it."

"Challenge accepted!" He smirked proudly, then took another sip of his milk. After he did that, he yawned.

"Good luck," she teased, before walking over to the kitchen table and taking a seat on a stool, facing towards the other gem in the room who hadn't said a word since she had sat down on that sofa. Steven gazed over to the striped gem and tilted his head, expecting at least some sort of taunt about his lifestyle. He knew that she hadn't dazed out, for her eyes had been following his every move for hours. She herself hadn't budged from that one spot.

Another yawn hit him. His bed was beginning to look very tempting.

But he wanted to see the night sky that Garnet had described, so he was going to stay awake for as long as he could.

"I need to keep myself awake." He cupped his chin as he tried to think up an activity to keep him occupied.

Cards, perhaps?

He cantered up the steps that led to his room, his bare feet carrying him over to his drawers. He pulled one out of the stand, the one that he had placed his cards in, and his hand scrounged around for the deck. His fingers soon brushed the smooth surface, and he grasped the cards that were held together with an elastic band. He shoved the drawer back into the stand and called down to Garnet.

"Hey, Garnet! Do you wanna play Chase the Ace with me?"

The gem raised her head to look at him through her visor, before raising a hand and waving him down, smiling. Excited, Steven hopped down the steps and sat down on the wooden floor in front of her, ripping the band off and tossing it aside. Garnet sat down in front of her and crossed her legs, waiting for the boy to give out the cards.

Their piles of cards were three each, when he paused. He tore his gaze away from the game and looked at Jasper, who at this point, wasn't even looking at them. As a matter of fact, Steven couldn't tell who or what she was looking at, for her bleached bangs were flopped over her face, covering her eyes as her normal fingers twitched at the blue-green spikes coming out of her arm. The sight was still alien to Steven; he never expected to see Jasper so… lost. Honestly, despite everything that she had done, everything she'd said… Steven just couldn't find it in his heart to resent her.

"Hey… Jasper?" he chimed sweetly. "Do you wanna play?"

Her head jerked upwards, the shadow cast by her hair disappearing, allowing her eyes to shine through. And those eyes weren't friendly.

She didn't say a word, instead just stood up, took a few long strides towards the door and swung it open, before sauntering out, not bothering to close the door behind her, thus letting a draft in that tickled Steven's skin that caused him to ma shiver. He stared after Jasper sadly, knowing that he couldn't do anything at this very moment. Letting out a depressed sigh, he continued to give out the cards. He'd given Garnet three more and was about to make his number equal, when a gloved hand was placed over his own. He finally looked at her, and saw she was frowning.

"Don't feel bad, Steven," she said softly, gently pushing his hands down, causing him to drop the cards. "Jasper isn't like Peridot or Lapis Lazuli. It's unlikely she'll accept your friendship."

His eyes drooped. "I know she isn't… but I just wish she wouldn't…" He glanced over his shoulder at the open door. "I wanna leave a good impression, y'know? Even if we never become friends, I don't want her to hate me so much." His eyes trailed along the floor and landed on the clumsy pile of cards, all facing different directions rather than one neat pile. "She hates me because of the stuff mom did. And I understand why she'd hold a grudge. I mean…" He curled up into a ball, wrapping his arms around his tucked knees. Before he found any more words to continue, he saw Garnet shift over to the space next to him and draped her long arm around his back. He leaned on her side, her warm body acting like a blanket, shielding him from the cold draft Jasper had let inside.

"That's not your fault, Steven," she murmured. "Jasper only thinks you're Rose Quartz because you have her gem. And because you act so much like her."

He knew that was meant to be a compliment. He knew he should take it as a compliment. But in this case, when Rose Quartz was the problem, rather than a solution to chase after, he just couldn't accept it. He could hardly bring himself to smile.

"Thanks, Garnet…"

"You're welcome." She smiled, shuffling back to her original position, sitting opposite Steven. "Now, do you still want to play Chase the Ace?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Even though I always win?"

It wasn't really a question. It was a statement. Steven chuckled.

"I don't mind. It's still fun playing with you." At that moment, he found his truthful grin once again.

* * *

Amethyst's boots sank into the sand with each step. She took pleasure in the feeling of the mushy, chewed up food being swallowed and digested, as well as the taste lingering on her tongue. These weren't the best chips she'd ever tasted, but it was late, and most stores were shut at this time, so these were all she could grab hold of. Whatever. Food was food, right?

She eventually reached the white steps, now painted a blue-purple hue, due to the sky having changed colour already. Amethyst really liked it when the steps - no, _anything_ \- looked this colour when they weren't meant to.

Granted, she was _meant_ to be this colour, just not her tiny size. Close enough, she'll take it.

She trudged up the stairs, salty-flavoured crumbs sticking to her fingers and scattered around her plump lips. Her tongue flickered to grab the tiny flakes as she relished the flavour, no matter how _small_ and _little impact_ they made.

Her own thoughts and daydreams blinded her path on the way up the steps, until a large, orange figure came into view. She was taken aback to see her there, but she didn't show any signs that she was startled in any way. Because she wasn't.

"Oh, 'sup, Jasper." She gave a casual nod to her, her eyes half-lidded as she gave a lopsided smile. "Mind budging over a little? I wanna scooch past."

The half-corrupted gem didn't even react to her presence. She didn't even look up, and instead continued her staring contest with her own heavy boots.

"Yo, did ya hear me?" She waved one hand close to her face, but not as close as she would do with literally anyone else. "I asked you to move over. Just for a second, then you can go back to… whatever it is you're doing."

Her eye twitched. "You can fit through that space, runt."

There it was. That nickname. Amethyst arched a brow and glanced at the space she was referring to.

It was, what, an inch wide?

She groaned.

"Look, we offered to help you out with… _this_ ," she gestured her free hand to her corrupted arm. "And this whole time you've been an ungrateful sad-sack. The _least_ you could do is respond to tiny requests like shuffling over." She then built up the strength in her legs, before leaping over the quartz, landing on the patio behind her with a loud thud. "Or, y'know, a 'thanks for helping me'," she muttered, just loud enough for her to hear.

She had taken two steps forward, when she heard her raspy voice hiss quietly,

"I didn't want to be helped."

Amethyst scoffed crudely.

"You needed it though."

She slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Jasper outside. The loud noise caught the attention of Steven and Garnet, who were sitting in the middle of the floor, both holding several cards in their hands.

"Oh! Hi, Amethyst!" Steven greeted, waving to her. Amethyst raised her hand to return the polite gesture, before dipping that hand into her bag of chips and throwing the crisp potato slices into her mouth.

"Aww, what ya playin'? And why didn't ya wait for me t' get back so I could tag along?" she complained, moist flakes spraying from her mouth.

"We're playing Chase the Ace!" Steven replied joyfully. As he said this, Garnet slipped one of his two cards he was holding from his fingers.

"We _were_ playing Chase the Ace," she corrected him, smirking as she dropped her two cards into the middle, leaving her empty handed. Steven widened his eyes and whipped his head around to look at the last card he was holding.

"Oh, bother!" he cursed, pouting.

Amethyst chuckled. "Don't be surprised. Garnet wins at _every_ card game."

"I know. I was just so close!"

She snickered again, taking a seat in between the two, creating a triangle shape. "So, what's the next game?" she asked, dropping her chips packet and stretching out to crack her knuckles. "Ever played Irish Snap? Oldie but a goodie!"

"No, that's too violent for Steven," Garnet stated dryly. Amethyst rolled her eyes.

"And, what, being trapped in a spaceship miles away from the Earth, then staying in it while it plummets towards Earth isn't?"

Steven chuckled. "What _is_ Irish Snap, anyway?"

"It's like Snap. But Irish."

Steven raised a brow, until Amethyst laughed and proceeded to explain the rules. It was a simple game, just with a few more rules. The most important rule, apparently, was to slam your hand on top of the pile of cards in the middle when there was a match, a queen, or a number that matched the number they had counted up to at that point, because the hand on top of the pile would be the one to pick up all the cards.

They proceeded to begin from 'ace' and count up from there, going round in a circle clockwise, placing a card each time they added a number to the count. Occasionally they'd get a pair or a queen, to which they'd literally throw themselves into the middle, aside from Garnet, whose hand was already clamped on top of the cards every single time. It was Steven who got the first pile of cards, but luckily for him it was only a pile of about six. The next one to pick up the cards was Amethyst, for she had been too busy rummaging her hand in her chips packet, searching for left over bits. Unfortunately for her, the pile was pretty damn big, and she muttered her frustrations under her breath. It wasn't even worth it - no food left for her to eat.

As the gem gathered the cards together, trying to pick them off the ground with her chubby fingers, she couldn't help but ask,

"So, what's up with Jasper?" she questioned, in a tone that implied that she didn't care, despite the fact that she really was curious.

"What do you mean?" Steven asked, a little quiet, might she add.

She shrugged. "I dunno, I was just wondering why she was sitting on the stairs outside."

He sighed as he threw a card into the middle, that was now empty as Amethyst had picked up all the cards, not bothering to straightening them up. "Ace. And I don't really know. I invited her to play cards… and she just walked out. Not saying anything."

Amethyst huffed, flinging her card onto the pile. "Two. And it wasn't like she was gonna say yes to that, Steven."

"Three," Garnet said, placing her card on the pile, but didn't remove her hand. Steven and Amethyst gasped and flung their hands forward, Steven being the one on top of the pile.

"Aw," he whined, waiting for Amethyst and Garnet to remove their hands. They did, and Steven saw Garnet and placed a queen. He picked up the three cards and added them to his pile, shuffling them before beginning the process again. "Ace." He pouted. "I kinda guessed she wouldn't. But it was worth a try, right?"

"You were just trying to lighten the mood," Garnet pointed out, watching through her visor as Amethyst flicked her card into the middle. She then added her own on top of it. "Three."

"Four." Steven added the next card.

"Five." Amethyst's turn. "Yeah, Garnet's right. Not your fault she's being moodier that Lapis on a bad day."

Steven wouldn't usually have laughed at a joke at Lapis' expense, but he couldn't help it. Probably because his energy was slowly draining.

"Yeah, I guess. Seven- oh!" He lunged forward, his hand landing on Garnet's, while Amethyst slapped her hand on Steven's last. It hurt. "Ow!"

"Oops." Amethyst let out a 'pffft' as she reluctantly added the seven cards to her already huge pile. "Ugh, I suck at this. Can we play something else?"

Steven laughed. Garnet clicked her tongue.

"You were the one who suggested this game," she insisted. "We're finishing it."

"Aw, man." She groaned. "Okay, fine. Ace." She threw her card in the middle. "Maybe it's a good thing Jasper isn't playing. Her slamming her hand down would be enough to poof someone." She huffed. "Speaking from experience."

"Yeah, I feel you." Steven rubbed his arm with his free hand.

"Two." Garnet said. "And me too."

The trio paused to look at each other. Then they laughed.

"So… we've all been punched by Jasper?" Amethyst arched a brow.

"Yep."

"Yeah."

"Pfft." The purple gem chortled. "Remind me why we're doing this again?"

Steven tilted his head. "Irish Snap?"

"No. Helping Jasper!" She laughed. "I mean, she's gonna hate us no matter what we do, right? She hasn't even thanked us for letting her out of that bubble."

"I know… but…" He pursed his lips. "Just give her time. Who knows what could happen?" He tried to smile at the thought, but Amethyst could tell that what he was saying was only half true.

"...I guess so." She decided not to continue with this subject and return to their game. "Uh… where were we up to?"

"It was Steven's turn. Three," Garnet answered.

Steven stared at his cards for a while longer. "Hey, uh… I might play later," he murmured, a forced smile glued to his face. "I'm gonna go look at the stars. They're bound to be out by now." With that, he abandoned his cards to stand up, walking over to the shut door to slip out of it once he had made it ajar. Amethyst blinked, staring after him before shooting Garnet a worried glance.

 _Did I say something wrong?_ She thought, but didn't need to say. Her expression did that job for her.

Garnet shook her head. _It's something else._

Amethyst squinted, glancing at the boy who was now standing outside, on the patio, gazing at the dark sky above him. She then looked back at her.

 _You sure?_

She nodded her head.

 _Promise._

* * *

Steven had actually forgotten about staying up to look at the stars. It had merely been an excuse to come outside. Even so, the sky _was_ really pretty tonight - different shades of purple and blue, all blended into a messy, yet pretty-coloured blanket. On top of that were the thousands of stars gazing down at him from millions of miles away. Each one was important; if one wasn't important, that means none of them are, meaning the sky would be just… empty.

The chilly breeze easily sliced through the thin fabric of his banana pajamas, and the wood was no better on his exposed feet. Still, it wasn't painful. In fact, it was rather welcome, considering it was usually so hot in Beach City. He rested his arms on the fence of the patio, his head sinking into them.

For a while, he eyed the sky above him, until the urge to look to his right was too much. His eyes trailed over to the steps, where a large figure sat, motionless, the breeze occasionally picking up her wild hair before dropping it again. He bit his tongue, though not enough that it would hurt, then blurted out.

"Do you want to go inside, Jasper? It's pretty cold out here."

Silence. Then her hunched shoulders faintly bobbed up and down.

"If _this_ is what you consider cold, then you're _more_ than weak," she jeered. Steven frowned. Of course she wouldn't find this type of weather cold. She was in the arctic at one point, and she didn't look phased at all.

"Right… sorry." He wasn't sure why he was apologizing. It may had been a silly offer, but it was still friendly, regardless. Still, he didn't take it back. "So… you're okay sitting out here?"

" _Leave_ me, Rose Quartz."

Steven furrowed a brow, before sighing.

"You won't need to worry about that…"

He treaded back inside, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could.


	4. Chapter 4 - It's Called a Gift

Early rays of sun were shining through the glass and inside the house. Having stayed up later than usual, Steven had expected to wake up at a later time than usual, but that wasn't the case. He had woken up at his regular time, to his delight, since he didn't want to keep Jasper waiting.

Not that she had known about his plan before hand, but still, he didn't want her to grow impatient.

He had taken a seat next to Amethyst, who had, at some point during the night, replaced Garnet on Jasper-watch duty, and was now scoffing down a leftover hot dog she had found at the back of the fridge, probably a few days old by now. While she licked her fingers (not for the purpose of cleaning them, but rather to taste the remaining grease) Steven gulped down a spoonful of his cereal.

"When did Jasper come back in the house?" Steven asked Amethyst as the food fell down his throat. She shrugged.

"Uh… two in the morning, maybe?" she guessed. "Somethin' like that." She wiped her wet fingers on the white fabric covering her torso. Steven frowned.

"She was out there for three whole hours?" He dropped another pile of cereal in his mouth.

"Yeah. I did ask her if she wanted to come back in once you fell asleep, but she just told me to leave." Her indigo eyes rolled around her sockets. "Seriously. It's barely day two of this, and she's already driving me nuts."

"Give her time. I get why she'd be upset with staying with us," he insisted, looking over to the gem slouched on his sofa. "I mean… after everything that happened."

Amethyst scoffed. "She was askin' for it," she muttered. "What was she thinking? Keeping corrupted gems in cages."

He shook his head. "No, that's not what I…" He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Nevermind. I wanted to try something." With that, he picked up his now-empty bowl and placed it next to the sink. "But first, it would be best if I brushed my teeth." He then jogged to the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Once he was in front of his mirror, he picked up the toothbrush lying on the counter, placed a blob of white paste on it, then quickly rubbed it on his teeth, all the while staring at his reflection.

 _Don't mess this up_ , it was as if the mirror was yelling at him. He narrowed his eyes at himself.

 _I won't. I'll prove to her that I can help her!_

Finally, he spat out the last of the paste and rinsed his brush, before placing it beside the sink. He rubbed around his mouth with a towel, before looking back at his reflection, his eyes widening at what he saw, just above the replica of his dark, curly hair.

A butterfly.

He gasped, fluttered his lashes.

It was gone.

Mumbling to himself, his feet quickly carried him away from that mirror and out of that room, until he could shut the door behind him, relieved.

"Right. Business time."

Shaking off the thoughts clogging up in his head, he skipped across the room, over to where his house guest was sitting.

"Hey, Jasper!" He smiled, giving her a wave.

She didn't react.

That didn't deter the happy attitude he had built up for himself.

"I, uh… just wanna see if my healing powers will help your arm." He took a step forward. "Do you mind if I…" He pointed to his nose, tapping it, as to say he wanted to… well… put some spit on her gem.

Jasper, for a moment, didn't move. Steven was about to back off, when finally she raised her normal hand and pulled some of her bangs from her face, giving him a clear view of her gem. He grinned widely, ecstatic that she was cooperating with him.

"Thanks! This will only take a second. And don't worry about my breath - I just brushed." He held up two fingers - his index and middle, and dabbed them on the end of his tongue, until they had a good amount of saliva on them. He raised himself up, balancing on his tip-toes, as he stretched his arm out to reach her gem, until finally he tapped the smooth surface. He beamed, excited for the effects to take place. He stared at her arm intently, searching for any green-blue skin disappearing, or the spikes to retreat back into her form until they were no longer visible.

But that didn't happen.

Actually, nothing happened.

Steven's grin melted, his stomach churning as he removed his fingers from her gem. He felt as if his body was being weighed down with disappointment at the sight of his powers not taking on any effect.

"...I'm sorry, Jasper," he lamented. "I thought that it would've at least…"

"Tch." The soldier narrowed her eyes, dragging her gaze away from him. Feeling guilt eat away at his heart, he turned away, sauntering over to Amethyst, who hopped down from the stool she was sitting on and lay a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay!" She lent a smile. "Not even Rose could heal gems like this. You've already done a great job getting her this far!"

As much as he appreciated the compliment, Steven knew that the only reason Jasper's healing had worked this well was because of how she wasn't corrupted by the Diamonds themselves. Had that been the case, he doubted that she would've even been able to gain back her voice.

"Thanks, Amethyst."

"Heh, not a prob."

Steven then glanced at his pajamas that he was still wearing, and shrugged.

"I better get changed," he said, scuttling over to the stairs leading up to his room, trying to ignore the glares thrown at him by the half-corrupted gem while he passed her.

"Come over?" Steven repeated into the phone. He hooked his finger over the collar of his shoulder. "I dunno if that's such a good idea, Connie."

"Why not?" she asked. "Is there something wrong?"

Even though she couldn't see him, he shook his head. "Nothing's… wrong, per say…" He glanced over to where his floor ended, knowing that Jasper was sitting just next to the stairs that led down to the living room. "It's just, uh… remember that conversation we had the other day?" He fell back onto his bed, hearing it squeak as it bounced.

"That one about Jasper?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, I remember. Why? What's going on?" He heard her fiddle with the phone in her hand.

"Well, I… I decided to go along with it."

He heard a hand slip over the phone as she tried to get a tight grip on it. "You did?" She gasped. "When?"

"Only yesterday."

"That's great! How's it going so far? Is Jasper okay?"

Steven shifted uncomfortable. "Oh, uh… she's alright, I guess." He couldn't see her from where he was lying, but his head still fell to the right, in her direction. "My healing powers worked quite well. She's pretty much herself, aside from still having one corrupted arm."

"That's really good!" she exclaimed.

"Heh, yeah… I guess."

There was a pause. "What do you mean by that?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, when I say that 'she's pretty much herself', that doesn't mean we're getting along," he murmured, lowering his voice so that Jasper wouldn't hear him. "I mean, I didn't expect much different, but even talking to her is really difficult."

"Oh… Well, she's at least thankful that you healed her, right?"

The boy sighed. "I… don't actually know. She isn't acting like she is." He flipped his body so that his back would be facing the rest of his house, while he'd be looking out the window in front of him. One glance was enough to decide that today was a nice enough day to see a friendly face. Whether or not that would be a good idea was what he was worried about.

"Huh. That's pretty ungrateful," Connie muttered. "But, anyhow, is it a good idea if I were to come over."

Steven pouted. "I mean, you wouldn't be in _danger_ … she hasn't hurt any of us in the past twenty-four hours." He bit the inside of his cheek. "I just don't think she'd be very happy to see you, considering last time you two met we beat her as Stevonnie."

"True, but she doesn't sound very happy anyway. I don't think me coming over will change anything."

He sighed. "I guess so." He pushed himself up from the mattress. "Okay, you can come over. Meet me at… what time is it now?"

"Eleven twenty," she replied.

"Ah, okay. About twelve, then?"

"Sure! See you later!"

"Bye, Connie!" With that, the beeping noise from the other end could be heard.

He placed his phone of the table beside his bed, before stepping off, hearing his joints click as he did so. He made his way down the steps, past the gem warrior, and towards the slim figure standing over the sink, one hand draped with a tea towel while the other held a bowl.

"Hey, Pearl?"

Pearl turned her head to him and smiled warmly. "Yes, Steven?"

He glanced at the bowl she was holding. "You don't have to do the dishes now - Connie's coming over, so we'll probably be having lunch as soon as you're done." He chuckled.

Pearl did not.

"You're _what_?" Her eyes widened with terror. "Steven, you can't bring Connie over!"

"What? Why not?"

"Because of our current… situation." Her sky blue eyes flickered over to Jasper, who Steven wasn't sure was paying attention to their conversation.

"Jasper won't hurt her. And if anything happens, you guys will be here." He looked at her with believing eyes. Pearl's face tightened out of uncertainty.

"Well… okay. I just don't want either of you to get hurt."

"I know. Nothing will happen, I promise!"

After convincing Pearl to allow Connie to come over, Steven waited patiently for his friend to come climbing up those steps. He had taken a seat on the patio, sitting opposite Amethyst who had her legs hooked over both sides of the fence, swinging them back and forth. Some time passed, when Amethyst looked down and waved.

"Heya, Connie!" she called. Steven heard Connie reply,

"Hi, Amethyst!"

Footsteps could be heard climbing the steps, until Connie finally came into view. Steven grinned when he saw her.

"Connie!" He hopped off the basking chair and cantered over to her.

"Hi, Steven!" She smiled. It was at that point that Steven noticed the pink object sticking out of her bag.

"You brought mom's sword?"

Connie blinked, then turned to the sword. "Oh! Yeah, I thought that maybe we could practice our fighting at some point, if we got bored."

The corners of his lips quirked up. "Sure! Sounds like a plan." He then reached for the door and pushed it open, then waited for her to follow. He stopped when he saw her eyeing the newly-made dent in the door frame.

"Uh…"

"Oh, just ignore that." Steven rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "Jasper couldn't fit through the door."

Connie stifled a giggle, stepping past the dent and into the house. Behind her, Amethyst squeezed past, making her way towards the direction of the fridge.

"I can imagine. I mean, she was pretty-" As Steven closed the door, hearing a satisfying 'click', he glanced over to her, and followed her gaze to Jasper, whose eyes were practically glued to the tiny human. "She _is_ pretty big." She corrected herself.

The tense atmosphere grew thicker, the more closer he moved towards his friend. He could feel the heat wrapping around his skin as they stood underneath the quartz's amber glare, her eyes narrowed to fiery slits.

Connie then cleared her throat. "Uh… hello, Jasper." She gave a shaky smile. "How are you doing?"

Steven had expected the gem to disregard her question, but no. She did something that practically had to be squeezed out of her, had it been a Crystal Gem.

She _replied_.

"I don't think even _humans_ are so dense that they'd have to _ask_ in order to find the answer to that question," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

While grateful that she had bothered to speak, Steven couldn't stop the annoyance building up in his chest at her patronizing tone. He glanced at Connie, whose cheeks were smeared with the colour of embarrassment.

"S-sorry…" she stuttered, eyes trailing the floor. Steven sighed.

"Don't apologize. You were only trying to be nice."

The corners of her lips climbed up her cheek, before Amethyst's voice rang from behind them.

"Yeah, it's not your fault Jasper's bein' a sad-sack!"

She laughed briefly. "No, it's okay. I didn't think Jasper would be very happy to see me. Nevertheless…" She paused as she dropped her bag onto the wooden floor, her strap slipping off of her shoulder with ease. Steven looked curiously as she crouched down and reached her hands past the zip, rummaged through the bag and occasionally nudging his mother's sword out of the way, as it was taking up most of the space in there. About twenty seconds later, her spine straightened up again, one hand now clamped around some unrevealed object that was attached to a silver chain that hung from the gaps between her fingers.

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't be nice to her." The corners of her eyes creased as her smile stretched across her face. Her feet began to carry her over to the half-corrupted gem, and, instinctively, Steven hurried over to her side, observing Jasper for any aggressive moves she may make. Luckily for them, she didn't react to her walking towards her, aside from her face twisting up with each step she took.

Connie stopped a few feet away from her, as did Steven, then proceeded to outstretch her arm and unravel her fingers, revealing a smooth, pink and black, unevenly cut stone, with a small hole near its edge, allowing the thin chain to grapple around it.

"I found this when I was cleaning out some old stuff in my room," she began. "My mom gave it to me as a lucky charm, since I was really nervous on my first day of school." She picked up the stone out of her palm and held it between her finger and thumb, rolling it up and down as she continued, "Since I haven't worn it in years, I was going to give it away. But then Steven told me about your current situation, so I thought I might as well give it to you!" She smiled sweetly, raising her arm so it would be closer to Jasper's face.

"Aww, Connie!" Steven squealed, hands pressed to his cheeks and eyes gleaming with joy. "That's so sweet!" He then turned to Jasper, who was eyeing the stone with her face scrunched up with a mixture of curiosity and abhorrence.

"Why are you giving me this?" she growled in a low, beastly voice, her eyes narrowing. Connie looked slightly taken aback from her harsh tone, but quickly composed herself.

"For good luck!" she explained. "Y'know… with the whole healing process."

Jasper crudely scoffed, slipping the stone from Connie's weak grasp and letting it roll into her huge hand. The lucky charm barely sized up to a fraction of her palm.

The girl twiddled with her fingers. "I-I even managed to get some information about the stone! Apparently it's called rhodonite. I think it's a type of gem!"

She dragged her gaze away from the stone and arched a brow at the human. Connie blinked a couple of times, before laughing.

"Oh, not a gem like you guys. Just a rock made here on Earth. No magical powers or anything like that!"

The soldier rolled her eyes, before her attention was drawn back to her gift.

"Is this meant to speed up my healing process?" she asked flatly, now playing with the chain that she had looped around her large fingers.

Connie hesitated. "Uh… not really. It doesn't really _do_ anything, per say…"

As soon as she said that, Jasper carelessly tossed it onto the table beside her, earning a gasp from Steven, who rushed over and kneeled down to check if it was still in one piece. Luckily, it had managed to resist the hard fall. When he looked back at Connie, he felt his heart tighten in a knot when he saw a dejected look on her face, though not very surprised.

"If it doesn't have a purpose, I'm not going to waste my time with it," she huffed, looking away from the human.

Steven, having become irritated by Jasper's dismissive behaviour from his friend, stood up.

"It does have a purpose!" he retorted. "It's supposed to make you feel better."

Jasper acted as if she didn't hear him. He sighed.

"I'm sorry, Connie."

Connie exhaled. "No, don't worry about it." She gave him a reassuring smile, and he returned it, while also hooking his fingers over the thin line of metal attached to the stone.

"Say, so you want this back?"

She shook her head. "No, she can have it. Even if she never picks it up again." She glanced at the lucky charm. "Maybe she'll find something to like about it one day."

Steven gave a huff of laughter. "You never know." His attention was then drawn to the kitchen, to which he scampered over to, Connie following close behind as he asked,

"So, what are you feeling for lunch?" He stopped in front of the fridge, opening it up to her. "I know we've got some bacon left over from the other day."

"Oh, that went bad already," Amethyst suddenly piped up, lying on her belly on top of the kitchen counter, her arms lazily hanging over the edge. Steven frowned in disappointment.

"Aw, you had to throw it out?"

The purple gem scoffed. "No? I ate it, duh."

Connie's mouth wrinkled up. "But… it went bad…"

She shrugged. "Eh, that's what Pearl said. She was about to throw it in the trash, but I caught it with my tongue." She gave a smug grin. The girl giggled, before turning her head towards Steven again.

"I honestly don't mind. I'm just really hungry!"

Steven nodded eagerly in agreement, kneeling down to check the bottom shelves. He eventually found some stuff for a balanced sandwich, that being a mixture of lettuce, tomatoes and ham. Half way through preparing them, Amethyst decided to geg in, making a sandwich of her own, but with her own additions, including shampoo and chocolate syrup. They decided to take their lunch outside, as Steven had pointed out what a nice day it was (and no one said it, but everyone was uncomfortable with Jasper glaring at them from the other side of the room). Out there, they sat on the shore, watching the waves flop onto the sand before being dragged away to begin the process again.

There was only the faint sound of wind rustling through their hair, as well as the water lapping up and withdrawing. Until Connie finally spoke up,

"I thought Jasper would be a lot more aggressive."

Steven and Amethyst glanced at her.

"Why's that?" Steven asked after gulping down a bite of his sandwich. Connie didn't look at him, just stared at the foam riding the surface of the water.

"Well… last time I saw her she was just so… what's the word…"

"Confident?" Amethyst guessed through a mouthful of mushed up food.

She bit the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, I guess that could work. I was thinking more along the lines of 'antipathetic'."

The quartz made a face. "I have no idea what that means."

Steven let out a huff of laughter. "It means they're really opposed to something."

"Oooh. Yeah, that's pretty accurate."

Steven and Connie exchanged amused glances, before the girl continued,

"It's just that- she looked really upset. I mean, I'd be upset if I was corrupted, but…"

"I get you," Steven said. "She's just been so quiet… today was probably the most she's said these past two days."

"Yeah, I expected her to have tried to killed us all by now." Amethyst shrugged, falling onto her back and sinking into the golden sand. "But hey, quick reminder we were afraid of Peridot at one point."

Steven chuckled - he couldn't imagine being afraid of the adorable green gem after everything they've been through. He stuffed the last on his sandwich into his mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it, before wiping the crumbs on the salmon-pink fabric of his shirt.

"Anyway, what do you wanna do now?" he asked, seeing that Connie had already finished her lunch.

"I don't know. What do you have in mind?"

Amethyst raised an arm from where she lay, as to grab their attention. "You have Rose's sword, right? You can just practice your fighting skills out here."

The two of them grew an excited grin, no words needed to know that they agreed.

"I'll go get my sword!" Connie announced, jumping up onto her feet and rushing to the house. After watching her go, Steven got the urge to get up and follow close behind.

After all, Jasper was still in the house.

* * *

Steven and Connie practiced all day with their sword and shield - sometimes fighting each other, while other times either Pearl or Amethyst would step up to take both of them on. No one would really win - they'd simply continue practicing until everyone became too exhausted to carry on. No matter how it ended, Pearl would always end up giving a round of applause while Amethyst would offer a 'whoop' of support.

It had gotten quite late by the end of everything, and Connie had already called her parents to come and pick her up as she packed away her stuff.

"You did so well during training today, Connie!" Pearl praised, coming up behind her on the patio with a proud grin plastered on her face. The girl blushed.

"Thank you, ma'am! I wouldn't be able to do any of this stuff if it wasn't for you."

Pearl sheepishly smiled, a blue blush of her own appearing on her face. "Oh, it's not a problem. After all, you're the one putting all the effort into your swordfighting."

Steven grinned widely. "You're both amazing, guys! It was so hard dodging your spear, Pearl!"

Pearl smiled.

"And you're so quick on your feet, Connie, it was so hard to keep track of your sword!"

Connie also smiled, her blush deepening.

"Thanks, Steven! You've gotten super good too. Especially with your floating powers!"

He giggled. "Haha, thanks… I'm glad I'm getting better at floating."

Connie nodded in agreement, before hooking the strap of her bag over her shoulder. "Anyway, I should get going. My mom will be waiting for me by the road."

He sighed, before agreeing. "Do you want me to walk down with you?"

The corners of her mouth sprung up. "Sure! That would be nice."

Connie exchanged goodbyes with Pearl, while also giving a wave to Amethyst and Garnet who were sitting on the other side of the window. She also offered a smile to Jasper, who completely disregarded her gesture. After that, they made their way down the steps and began to journey to the road that was behind the temple.

Half way there, Connie suddenly asked, "Do you think Jasper will ever like my gift?"

Steven frowned, sighing. "I don't know. Out of all the gems I've met that come from Homeworld, she seems to hate Earth the most."

"I guess. Well, at least she didn't lash out at me."

"Yeah, that's good, I guess."

They continued walking, Beach City now in their view.

"Say, how did Peridot and Lapis react to Jasper coming back?"

Steven paused.

"...What?"

Connie arched a brow at him. "Peridot and Lapis? You said that you figured they wouldn't get along, right?"

He stopped in his tracks, causing Connie to stop walking along with him.

"Steven?"

He gripped his hair with his fingers, the curls wrapping around his digits.

"I… I haven't told them!" He gasped. Connie blinked, her eyes widening a little.

"You haven't?"

"No! I… I don't know why. I was just so focused on _healing_ Jasper that I never considered…"

"Steven, it's okay!" Connie soothed, placing a hand on his shoulder. His hands dropped to his sides. "You can just tell them today. Or tomorrow, if it's too late to go to the barn right now."

He sighed. "It's not that. I… I should've told them _before_ releasing Jasper from her bubble. It just didn't cross my mind that I should've done so."

She furrowed her brow. "Why can't you tell them now? I mean, I know they don't get along, but neither do the others, right?"

"I know, but…" he twiddled his thumbs, "it's not really Peridot that I'm worried about. It's _Lapis_."

She tilted her head to the side. "Why's that?"

He stared at the ocean guiltily. "Just… a lot happened with the whole Malachite thing. Stuff I don't think Lapis wants to face again." He sighed. "I just hope she isn't mad at me for not coming to her first."

Connie thought for a moment. "It's okay. Just explain to her that you just forgot and everything else. She'll understand!"

Steven didn't fully believe it would be that simple, but nevertheless, he appreciated her kind words, so he smiled.

"Thanks, Connie."

She opened her mouth to speak again, but was interrupted by a ringing coming from her bag. She stuffed her hand in there, searching for the vibrating object that was her phone. Eventually, her hand latched onto it and she dragged it out of the bag and up to her ear.

"Hello?" she asked. Steven could faintly hear the voice coming from the other end.

"Connie, where are you? I've been waiting here for ten minutes!" the voice of her mother lectured. Her expression twisted a little at the sound.

"Sorry, mom. We're on our way now."

There was a pause, and then, "Right. Well, you better hurry. It's getting late, and I'm sure Steven will want to go to bed soon."

He was tempted to object to that, but decided against it.

"Alright, we'll pick up the pace. We'll see you in about five minutes!" Connie said, beginning to walk forward, followed by Steven.

"Okay, see you soon."

"Bye!" With that, she hung up and dropped her phone back into her bag, then turned to her friend. "We should hurry."

He chuckled. "Yeah, we should."

As they speed-walked towards Beach City, Steven glanced at the sun ducking behind the ocean, nearby the hills that surrounded where Lapis and Peridot resided. He knew that by the time he would've got to the barn, the sky would have returned to its dark blue state, the sun long gone. There was no use in paying his two friends now.

But the later he left it, the worse it would become. He needed to tell them as soon as possible.

Considering the fact that he'd left it far too late already.


	5. Chapter 5 - Triggered

About an hour had passed since Connie had left. Ever since then, Steven had been lying on his bed, arms splayed out and still in his regular clothes. The sky had become a pinkish-purple colour at this point, only the rim of the sun visible behind the distant waves. He would've called it it beautiful, but all this information really told him was that it was a bit too late to pay a visit to Lapis and Peridot. Even if he were to travel by warp pad, there was still some distance to walk until he would finally make it to the barn.

He let out a long, frustrated sigh. He wished he could go back three days ago and drag himself to the barn, instead of having to face whatever reaction his two friends would have to him going ahead and freeing someone who had caused them so much trouble, Lapis especially. Deep down he knew neither of them would hate him, but it scared him to think about the disappointed looks he might get from them, at best.

Despite all of this, he knew he had to tell them as soon as possible. _Now_ would be a nice time to do so, since it was **_as soon as_** _possible_ , but he was already exhausted from his training with Connie from today that he couldn't bring himself to travel all that way.

Then an idea popped into his mind. He rolled over to the edge of the bed, until her was in reach of the drawer built in the desk next to him. He reached his arm for the knob and pulled the drawer out, revealing his laptop inside. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, sitting up, then scooped the laptop up in his hand and pushed the drawer back in its frame with his foot. He opened the device up and pressed the power button, then waited for the login screen to load up, his fingers drumming his duvet as each second passed.

Once he had logged in, he directed his cursor to a shortcut of a social network and gave it a click, opening it up. His finger scolled through his contacts, until finally he landed on the profile picture of Peridot. Being one to use her tablet often, Steven had introduced her too numerous social network sites and apps, including this one, which she and him would occasionally use to make calls and video chat. Today would hopefully be one of those days where they would do so.

After clicking her profile picture, he searched for the option to video chat with her, his cursor soon finding it. He was about to open the chat up, before stopping himself.

Jasper was sure to hear their conversation from where he was sitting.

He withdrew his finger from the touchpad and picked the laptop up, carrying it with him as he made his way down the stairs and towards the door, past where Garnet was sitting. The fusion glanced at him, as to question what he was doing, to which he replied,

"I'll be back in a sec."

He shut the door behind him and trudged down the steps, far from Jasper's hearing range. He finally settled below the steps and on the dry sand. The glow of the screen in front of him was now apparent, as it had gotten pretty dark already.

Laptop now sitting on his lap, he allowed himself to click on the video chat option, which opened up a tab that awaited for Peridot's response. For a while, all he saw was a loading screen.

Then, a blurry picture appeared. He edged forward.

A green figure could be seen, tongue out as she stared at her own device, probably trying to figure it out. Eventually, her eyes moved up to the screen in front of her and she grinned excitedly.

"Steven!" she exclaimed. Steven could see that she was lying down on a white hammock, and that she, for some reason had short sleeves. This earned a laugh from him.

"Hi, Peridot! I like your shirt."

The gem's happy expression turned to one of embarrassment, and her free arm slapped over her body in an attempt to cover up the baggy white t-shirt that she was wearing, her wrist hiding half of the alien head logo.

"I-it's a one-time thing!" she stammered. Steven laughed again, as another voice piped up,

"You've been wearing that for three days straight."

Peridot scowled at someone who was off-screen.

"Like you're one to speak!" she retorted, before her attention was drawn back to her tablet as Steven said,

"Oh, is Lapis with you? Can you get her on camera with you?"

Peridot nodded, before her camera-work began to get really shaky as she crawled along the hammock. Steven waited for a clear picture to come up, which eventually happened when Peridot fell back onto the hammock, now lying next to Lapis. Steven concluded they must've both been lying on it, heads just in different places.

Lapis' dark blue eyes lit up at the sight of her friend, and her hands flopped forward, the book she held now flat on her bare belly. Steven saw that she also had a change in clothing - a blue and white-striped tank top that still failed to cover her whole torso.

"Hello, Steven!" she greeted, smiling sweetly.

"Hi, Lapis!" He waved. "Since when did you guys start wearing clothes?"

She glanced at the green gem next to her. "It was Peridot's idea."

Peridot's mouth scrunched up at that. Steven laughed again.

"I think they really suit you!" he commented. The younger gem's irritated expression immediately transformed into a smug grin.

"Thank you, Steven! I do come up with the best ideas, after all."

Lapis rolled her eyes while he chuckled. Peridot then pulled the tablet closer to her face and squinted.

"Where are you right now?" she asked. Suddenly, the reasons for calling his friends came flooding back to him, and he had to pin his grin to his face.

"Oh! I'm just- I'm outside." He tilted his laptop backwards to allow the webcam to get a good view of his house, then adjusted it so that the camera would be recording him again.

"Oh, it's a nice night, isn't it?" The corner of Lapis' mouth quirked up. Steven bit his lip.

"Erm… actually…" He tried to think what order to put his words into, his eyes trailing in some random direction that soon landed on the sky above him. "...Yeah. It's a nice night." Those weren't even the _right_ words.

"Yeah! Lapis and I are planning to go stargazing later tonight!" Peridot declared, shaking the tablet as she did so. The blue gem nodded.

"As long as we wake up at the right time."

Steven's eyes widened a little. "You guys like sleeping?"

One of Lapis' hand crossed over her other as she stared off at something in the distance. "Sometimes, yes."

"It's very interesting!" Peridot stated. "I was searching through what humans have found out about it and the dreams that come with it, and while most research done was petty and theories illogical, some were… above adequate for a being with such a short lifespan."

Steven smiled, delighted to hear that the two gems were settling into Earth so well that they would join in with human activities.

"That's great, Peridot." His smile faltered. "Um… so the reason why I've called you…" He broke his gaze with the screen that was lighting up his face.

"You mean, other than to see your two favourite gems?" Peridot chortled, and Lapis smirked at the comment.

Steven bit the inside of his cheek. "Heh… well, there's something I need to tell you guys."

The two gems' attention was drawn, and they awaited for him to continue. He tapped his fingers on the sides of the laptop as he tried to decide on where he should start - the apology, or the story behind the apology?

"...Yes?" Peridot prompted him after a while of waiting in silence. He broke out of his thoughts, staring at the two trusting faces in front of him.

They looked so happy over there.

"Hey, uh… my battery's low. Do you think that we could meet up tomorrow morning at some point?" A yawn soon followed his excuse. "Uh… also I'm really tired." That wasn't a lie.

"Of course, Steven!" Lapis offered an understanding smile, a smile that Steven was dreading slapping off of her tomorrow. "You go and rest. We're looking forward to seeing you - right, Peridot?" She glanced at the gem lying next to her, who nodded, grinning wildly.

"Yep! We'll let you regain your human energy." She slipped one hand behind her head. "See you tomorrow, Steven!" She then leaned over to Lapis and whispered, "What's that Earth saying that humans say before they sleep?"

Lapis shrugged and muttered back, "I dunno, sour dreams or something?"

Steven snickered. "I think you mean 'sweet dreams', Lapis."

The blue gem fluttered her lashes. "Right. Sweet dreams, Steven!"

"What she said," Peridot added.

He smiled gingerly. "Sweet dreams." He yawned again. "Goodnight, guys!"

"Goodnight!" The two of them waved - the blue hand slow and steady while the green frantic and ecstatic. Steven returned the gesture, before clicking off the tab to end the conversation, and finally flopping onto his back with his laptop almost toppling over his lap. He stared up at the stars that had begun to appear, wishing that he could find some way to break the news to them. Yet, no ideas came to him, much to his disappointment. Then again, it really didn't matter _how_ he did it - Lapis would be upset no matter what, and Peridot would probably become annoyed that he hadn't told either of them any sooner.

 _But I need to tell them,_ he told himself, _even if they think I'm crazy._

* * *

Steven had woken up slightly later than usual. At first, he had been happy that he'd gotten a goodnight's sleep, and that today had already began to look like a beautiful day, however all of his joy was sucked out of him when his eyes landed on his laptop sitting on the counter, immediately reminding him what he would have to do this morning. He let out a long sigh, throwing his duvet off of his body and swinging his legs over do that his feet would land on the floor.

His joints cracked as he stood up, a spiral of clicking sounding as he twisted his back around. He yawned, before sauntering over to the stairs and plodding down each step, slowly passing the large figure still sitting on his couch.

"Morning, Jasper," he murmured, rubbing his eyes.

The quartz sneered, "I'm aware."

Steven paused at the bottom of the stairs, trying to process her reply, before finally realizing and chuckling.

"No, no, I mean, good morning. Like a greeting." He groggily smiled at her, while she just huffed and turned away. When she did, Steven tread slowly towards the bathroom, his hand reaching for the handle once he was in front of the door. But, before his palm was even on the doorknob, the door swung open, revealing Amethyst standing in the entrance, the toilet flushing behind her. The surprise in seeing her jolted him awake.

"Amethyst?"

"Oh, hey Steven."

He arched a brow. "What were you doing in there?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, I wanted to see what would happen if I flushed food colouring down the toilet."

He felt like he should've been surprised, but honestly, he'd become used to these type of antics.

"Did the water change colour?"

"Nope. Pretty disappointing." She shuffled past him. "Anyway, you go do your buis'."

Steven obliged, slipping into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

He spent about half an hour cleaning himself up, his hair still wet by the time it was ten-thirty. He had decided to take his breakfast outside, sitting with Amethyst, Garnet and Pearl on the patio while scoffing his pancakes down hungrily.

"Oh, guys, I forgot to tell you-" he licked some syrup off of his lips, "I'm meeting Lapis and Peridot this morning."

"Oh!" Amethyst turned, a wide grin on her face. "I wanna come! What are you guys plannin'?"

Steven looked over to her guiltily. "Erm… this isn't really gonna be a casual meeting, Amethyst." He took another bite of his pancake.

The purple gem raised a brow. "What d'ya mean?"

"Well... " He stared at his plate. "I realized yesterday that I probably should've told Lapis about Jasper at some point."

"So you're going to tell her today?" Garnet guessed, correctly, at that.

"Uh-huh." He nodded slowly. "I know she won't be happy about it."

The fusion lay a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to worry. You're Lapis' closest friend - she'll understand your reasoning."

Steven felt a comfort in the hand placed on him, even if her gem blocked the soft palm from underneath.

"Yeah, you're like, her will to live."

There goes that touching moment.

Pearl rolled her sky-blue eyes. "Oh, Amethyst,at least try and be sympathetic."

Amethyst snickered, shrugging her shoulders. "Just sayin'."

The half-gem disregarded her comment and continued eating his breakfast, until eventually there was only half a pancake left. He was about to take another bite, when the sound of the warp pad alerted the group, all their heads turning towards inside the house. Their suspicions were confirmed when they saw the bright blue glow of the warp pad lighting up the room.

At first, Steven was confused to who would be using it - Jasper couldn't use it, as she was still half-corrupted, and she was also still sitting on the couch. And, obviously, no one from the temple would be using it, as they were currently with him outside. It was then the realization hit him, and he dropped his plate on the ground and darted inside.

By the time he was standing next to the kitchen counter, the glowing of the warp pad had faded, revealing two figures - one green, one blue. He stopped in his tracks, heart pounding.

"L-Lapis! Peridot!" he stammered, chancing a glance with Jasper, who had visibly tensed up, her fists clenched and eyes wide with discomfort. His eye contact was brief, as he had to look back at his two friends. "What are you guys doing here?"

Peridot smiled and arched a brow. "You wanted to meet up, didn't you? Well, here we are."

He attempted to smile back, though his mouth was probably a crumpled mess when he did so.

"O-oh! Yeah, I know, but I thought…" He shuffled forward until he was past the wooden floorboards and instead standing on the smooth surface that led up to the temple door. "I was actually gonna come and meet you guys at the barn! Y'know, to save the hassle and all!" He felt beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. Whether they were created by the burning glare he felt Jasper giving him from inside his living room or the nervousness pulsing through his veins, he was unsure.

Lapis gave a thoughtful smile. "It's okay, Steven. It really wasn't that hard getting here, you know." She stepped off of the warp pad and stood in front of him. Before she did, Steven quickly looked at Jasper, who had now clenched her teeth and gripped the sofa at the sound of the blue gem's voice. Before Lapis could follow his gaze, he turned her attention back to her.

"I know! But, um… I wanted to see any new additions to the barn!" He side-stepped over to the warp pad, which by now had no gem on it, as Peridot had hopped off of it as well.

"Oh, we haven't modified it in the time you were gone." The younger gem flicked her hand forward casually. "We've got some ideas, but haven't got the right material to act on them." She then smirked, cantering further into the house, while still keeping her green eyes on Steven. "So, I was wondering, while we were here-"

"Um, Peridot-"

"If we could possibly borrow any unused or discarded devices to which we could make some use fro-"

The gem froze when she turned around, now standing in the middle of his house and having a clear view of the gem sitting on his sofa. Steven felt himself tremble at the sight.

And then she screamed.

"AAAAAH! LAPIS!" Peridot spun around, slipping in the process, then scrambled onto her feet and slid over to where her roommate was standing. Lapis was shocked and confused, to say the least, her eyes widening and brows raised, as the little gem grappled onto her left arm. "DON'T GO IN THERE!"

She stared at her, puzzled.

"Why? What's wrong?" she questioned, taking a step forward, ignoring the green gem tugging her back by the arm. She, however, paused when she heard,

"She's right! Don't go in there!" he cried, stumbling over to them. None of this answered Lapis' question, which began to make her grow irritated.

"Why not? What's in there, a monster?"

"No! Something much worse!" Peridot exclaimed, tightening her grip on her friend's arm. Lapis opened her mouth to reply, when a deep, raspy and almost animalistic voice interrupted her.

"Watch your puny tongue, before I rip it out your mouth."

Peridot froze. Steven froze. _Lapis_ froze.

Then, Lapis raised her other hand to clamp it over the green arm gripping onto her. Steven felt his own heart choking him in his throat.

"Lapis, I…" was all he could muster up. The gem still didn't move, though her face was the living embodiment of terror.

Then she took a step forward. And another. And another.

Peridot, unable to keep her roommate still, had no choice but to keep up with her slow pace into the house, still holding her arm tightly. Steven followed behind her nervously, his eyes constantly darting from the two gems to the large figure slowly revealed as they reached the right angle.

Lapis stopped once she had a clear enough view of Jasper, whose amber eyes were wide, filled with intense animosity. If stares could kill, Lapis would be shattered into pieces; this thought was what dragged Steven over to stand between them both, which wasn't so hard with such a distance between them.

"Jasper," Lapis finally croaked, voice dripping with remorse. Jasper tilted her head forward, her bangs falling over some of her face and making it harder for anyone to see her eyes.

"Lapis." A low growl rumbled from her throat.

Steven looked back at his friend, still gripped by Peridot, who shakily spoke out.

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

A haughty laugh could be heard, before she gestured towards the boy standing a few feet away.

"Ask your _leader_ **."**

Both Lapis and Peridot's gazes landed on Steven, and they stung. They were a mess of confusion, betrayal and _fear_.

Then the ocean gem squeezed her eyes shut, running her fingers through her electric blue hair and finally slipping out of the smaller gem's grasp.

"I…" She shook her head. "I'll be back."

With that, she scurried out of the house, with only a weak attempt to close the door behind her before summoning her wings and flying off. She didn't even acknowledge the other gems standing outside, watching the scene unfold intently. As Lapis passed them, they all exchanged pitiful glances with each other.

Peridot stared after her helplessly, before swinging her head around to face Steven once again.

"Steven...?" She narrowed her eyes, tapping her foot against the wood impatiently as she waited for an explanation.

Steven looked at her guiltily, before making his way to the door, gesturing for Peridot to follow, to which she obliged. Once they were out on the patio, he shut the door behind him and turned to face the little gem.

"Peridot-"

" _Steven, why is Jasper in your house, and why isn't she that dreadful monster that she had originally transformed into?!_ " she screeched, splaying her arms out childishly. Slightly taken aback, Steven had to find the correct words to reply.

"I… I'm sorry, Peridot!" He clenched his hands into fists. "It's just… I felt really bad for leaving Jasper in that bubble! I have healing powers, and I thought that maybe I could help her! And… it's worked so far! Kinda…"

Peridot's face was scrunched up in perplexment. "But… why would you _want_ to? I mean…" Her nose wrinkled up as she stole a look from the quartz soldier. "Did you just _forget_ about everything she did?"

"Well, to be fair, Per," Amethyst stepped forward, "we gave you a chance, didn't we? We're just helpin' out Jasper rather than leaving her in the dust." She draped an arm over her friend's shoulder. "Ya gotta admit, what happened to her wasn't pretty."

Peridot gave her an unsure glance. "The possibilities of her becoming our ally are slim." She then snarled. "And, honestly? The chances of me _wanting_ her as an ally are as well." She then began frantically search the sky. "And I doubt Lapis will be any better."

Steven sighed. "She's probably so mad with me."

Peridot then looked back at him, eyes round with surprise. "Mad at _you_? Ha!" She scoffed, flicking her wrist forward dismissively. "That's very unlikely, Steven. I mean, she may be upset, but I highly doubt she's angry."

Steven perked up with hope. "Are you sure?"

"Only one way to find out." She turned towards the stairs and began her climb down to the sand below, then began to run in a random direction, away from the temple.

"Wrong way," Garnet called, stopping her teammate in her tracks. The fusion pointed up to the lighthouse on top of the hill. "She's up there."

Peridot stared up at the tall structure towering above them all and groaned.

"I have to climb all the the way up _there_?"

Amethyst snickered, leaning over the fence and gazing at her with amusement. "You wanna _climb_ up there?"

"It's okay!" Steven shuffled next to Amethyst to look at Peridot. "I can float us up there." He followed his friend down the steps and onto the sand, then lead her over to a more sloped end of the cliff, where he snatched her little green hand, before preparing to jump up.

"Ready?"

"Of course I'm ready," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. Steven nodded, then jumped, keeping tight hold of her hand. He heard Peridot let out a gasp as she left the ground, far higher than the average jump. They didn't quite reach the height of the lighthouse, so Steven allowed himself to float back down and land on the cliff that the building was standing on. He heard the gem next to him let out a sigh of relief as soon as her feet touched the green grass, until he jumped into the air yet again, earning a surprised yelp from her. This time, they could reach the top of the lighthouse, in fact they floated a little distance above it, allowing them to see a blue figure sitting on top of the structure, her knees tucked tightly under her chin while her hair blew widely in the wind.

* * *

Lapis was jolted out of her thoughts at the sound of a body slamming onto the hard surface she had settled on, followed by the sound of two feet landing much more lightly. She didn't raise her head from her knees to see who it was, as she could take a good guess.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw from the corner of her eye, a green figure sit on her right, and another all too familiar figure on her left. Now trapped between her only two trustworthy friends, she knew there wasn't any point in trying to escape.

"Hey, Lapis…" the boy spoke slowly. "I, uh…" She saw him shift nervously. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about all of this sooner. It just… slipped my mind."

She didn't need to hear much to know he was deeply remorseful. She'd say she would have forgiven him, but there was no grudge to let go of. She sighed, and placed a hand on his shoulder, peeking at him through the gaps in between her bangs.

"Don't worry, Steven," she murmured. She saw his eyes grow wide, clearly surprised by her response.

"You're not mad?" His voice grew a little louder than it had been before. She shook her head.

"No. I mean, I'm surprised, but…" She turned to her little green friend sitting on the other side of her. "Peridot told me what happened with Jasper. I…" She carried her blue clumps of hair out of her face with her fingers. "All I can say is that it came as a shock to me." Her pupils trailed the beach below them.

"Yeah…" Steven agreed sadly. "I did try to heal her when the corruption started, but she just wouldn't listen. I-I felt like I had to do _something_ , y'know?"

Lapis gave him a one-sided smile. "I know."

His brown eyes still shone with guilt. "I really am sorry about not telling you. Or Peridot." He glanced at the younger gem sitting next to her. "I guess all I was thinking about is how Jasper would react to us… but I didn't consider how _you_ would react to _Jasper_."

"It really wouldn't have made any difference, Steven."

He blinked at her. "Huh?"

She stared at the ocean, at how far it stretched out for. "I would've been fine with you bringing Jasper back."

Peridot then suddenly chimed, "That doesn't mean you _shouldn't_ have told us."

Steven tore his gaze away from the two of them guiltily. The sight was enough for Lapis to elbow Peridot in the arm, though not so hard that it would hurt. The younger gem did let out a surprised squeak, though, before rubbing the part of her arm that was nudged. "What? He should've."

Lapis just gave her a blank stare, passing on a message that only she would understand. She clamped her mouth shut and turned back to Steven.

"We're not mad, though. So… don't worry about it," she quickly added. The boy dragged his gaze away from the ocean below and found the courage to look at them again.

"Are you sure?"

They both nodded simultaneously.

"It's sweet how you want to help her, Steven." The older gem's tone sounded forced to her, but it seemed her friend didn't notice, to her relief. He shyly smiled at her.

"I'm glad you think so, Lapis. But, please don't think that just because I'm helping Jasper out with… this… that I won't be here for you as well." A single tooth grappled onto his bottom lip. "I know you and Jasper have a… erm… difficult relationship." He scratched the back of his neck. "So if you ever feel uncomfortable with all of this, please tell me."

Lapis sweetly smiled at him, a darker shade of blue appearing on her face for the shortest of moments. His words really did comfort her like an Earth blanket.

"Thank you, Steven," she breathed, leaning her head back on her knees, her arms crossing over each other and surrounding her chin. The wind blew in her hair, blocking a clear sight of the sea lapping up on the shore - or anything in front of her, for that matter. A silence fell upon them, thoughts overcoming words. Lapis' eyes drooped until they finally closed, and she felt herself fall into a realm built out of her conflicting thoughts. The image of Jasper and her half-corrupted form flashed in her mind for a brief moment. It didn't last long. That doesn't mean it didn't hurt to see her-

She was suddenly dragged out of that realm by a small hand clamping over her arm. She finally opened her eyes and glanced at the little gem next to her, one hand on her arm as she stared into the distance.

"Say, I'm sure Jasper isn't all that pleased to see us, so perhaps we should return to the barn," Peridot suggested distantly. "Y'know… to give her space and all."

"Oh, yeah, okay." He sounded slightly disappointed. "Can we keep in touch, though? I mean, I don't think I'll be able to visit the barn so often with Jasper around."

Lapis nodded while humming, "Mhmm," before standing up onto her feet, her gem glowing so it could reveal a pair of water wings. Both Steven and Peridot stood up as well, the human pulling a foot back as he stared at the ground below.

"Want me to carry you down?" Lapis offered. Steven shook his head.

"No, it's okay! I can just float." He grinned, before jumping off of the lighthouse and steadily falling to the ground, letting out a 'whoosh' as soon as he got into the air. Peridot's eyes followed him as he descended, before she yelled,

"Hey, wait! How am I meant to get down?"

Lapis rolled her dark eyes, before hooking her hands under the smaller gems arms, her fingers tightly grasping her limbs. With a strong beat of her wings, she left the surface of the building and made her way down to the ground, while also hearing an 'eep' from Peridot at the sudden movement.

"Oh- uh… wow, thanks," she eventually sputtered as her hanging feet grew closer to the sandy beach below. Lapis didn't notice her own grip tighten.

"It's fine," she muttered, her head drooping slightly as she watched her other friend land on the sand safely, followed by Peridot, who she let go of a few inches above the ground, and then herself.

She crossed her arms over her chest as the trio began walking towards the steps that led up to the beach house, and with each step, the blue gem could feel a pit grow in her stomach, as she knew that each stair was a sign that she was getting closer to Jasper. Once they were back on the patio, Lapis could feel three pairs of eyes - along with one extra one - stuck to her. She refused to even glance at any of them.

"So… all is good?" Amethyst, who was leaning back on the fence, guessed, though you had to really dig in order to find the concern buried beneath her casual demeanor.

"Uh… yeah! We talked it out," Steven replied, smiling gingerly. "Lapis and Peridot were just about to make their way back to the barn."

The tiny quartz pouted. "Aw, I was hoping the Shorty Squad could've hung out more."

Lapis' insides churned at the suggestion. She definitely did _not_ want to walk past the half-corrupted figure sitting inside alone.

"Oh, I'd love to, Amethyst!" Lapis bit her lip as Peridot spoke. "But I think a certain _other_ soldier would object to such an idea."

Amethyst glanced at the window across from her, then back at her green friend. "Eh. That's fair. Maybe Steven and I could come over to the barn at some point."

"That sounds great!" Steven exclaimed. "What do you guys think?"

Peridot smirked. "Of course! Sounds like a good plan."

"Sure," was all Lapis said. Honestly, she had hardly heard the conversation unfold before her, as her limbs were itching with the urge to leave, as a hot flash was repeatedly flooding through her, mainly on the side of her body closest to the house. She would've blamed it on the sun, had it not been shining from the other side of her.

"Awesome! We'll see ya later then." She snapped her fingers then pointed at them with her index forward and thumb straight up, winking.

"'See ya'." Peridot attempted to mimic her actions, performing the same hand gesture and wink to her, along with the same tone in voice. It was nowhere near identical to the purple soldier's Earth greeting.

Before anything else could be said, Lapis turned towards the door, outstretching her arm towards the handle. Before her palm could touch it, she accidently gave into the urge to look up, and her eyes immediately locked with a heated amber gaze from the other side of the glass. She felt her body freeze, her fingers twitching desperately as they attempted to move.

She was broke out of her trance as she felt a small hand touch her arm. Her eyes moved down to see her roommate staring into the house, her lips a shaky line drawn on her face. Following that were heavier footsteps that couldn't belong to either of her shorter friends, so out of curiosity, she glanced up, seeing the fusion staring down at her through an opaque visor.

"She won't hurt you," she murmured. Lapis furrowed her brow at the statement, then exhaled.

"Right," she mumbled. She knew it didn't sound it, but she was grateful for the attempt to soothe her worries. It goes to show that she was, at the very least, safe.

Her attention was then drawn to Steven scurrying past her, clicking open the door and holding it open for them. She forced a smile as she stepped into the room after Peridot, who had her green eyes glued to Jasper as she sauntered past her. Lapis chewed on her lip as she glanced at her again, expecting some sort of staring contest to take place across the room. But no, the huge gem wasn't paying her any attention. Instead, she had her eyes on the younger gem in front of her, an emotion she couldn't name plastered on her face. All she knew is that she didn't like the emotion, and quickened her pace to stand next to her roommate, guarding her from the unpleasant gaze of the quartz.

As soon as she knew Peridot was out of view, she saw Jasper look back at her, eyes narrowed into fiery pits. She held her gaze for a while, until finally she passed a wall that blocked her view of the gem. She finally looked away, and turned towards the warp pad that was only a few feet away from her.

"So… see you guys some time?" She whipped her head around to Steven, who was standing beside Amethyst and in front of Garnet and Pearl. She smiled and nodded.

"Yes."

"Yep!" Peridot agreed, now grinning. "Bye, Steven! Bye, Amethyst!" She waved to them as she leaped onto the warp pad, as well as Garnet and Pearl, who waved back.

"Bye, Peridot, bye Lapis!" Steven returned, waving back. Lapis copied the gesture.

"Bye, Steven."

One last wave goodbye, and Lapis' vision transformed into a bright flash of blue light.

* * *

The pair stepped off the warp pad that was placed in the countryside, close to the beach. Without saying a word, they stepped off of the pad and began the journey back to the barn.

At this point in time, the sun was just behind the midpoint in the sky, and was beating down on them with its heat. The only sound between them was the quiet rustling of the blades of grass brushing next to their feet. Lapis had her arms folded across her chest like she usually did, while Peridot twiddled her thumbs, trying to think of the correct way to break the silence between them.

"Lapis?" she suddenly asked. The older gem caught her eye as a response. "Are you okay?"

She pursed her lips. "Yeah." She turned her attention back to the path ahead of her.

Peridot frowned. Obviously that was the incorrect response.

"Are you sure about that?"

The blue gem's eye twitched when she said that, drawing some regret from her.

"Okay, you're fine, sor-"

"No, not really," Lapis replied with a deadpan expression. The little gem's attention perked, and she turned towards her, intently staring at her.

"I'm guessing you're not okay with this," she muttered.

She dragged her deep blue gaze along the ground. "Are you?"

Peridot arched a brow. "Am I what?"

"Okay with this."

"Oh." She clamped her hands together, her fingers interlocking. "I'm… indifferent, for the most part. I mean, I don't see any reason why Steven would want to help that brute," a sneer appeared on her face, "however, I suppose it's only fair. I mean, he helped us out." She then glanced at her roommate worriedly. "I'm just concerned about the outcomes to this decision."

Lapis blinked slowly. "I'm okay with it."

Peridot's eyes opened a little wider. "You are?"

"I said I was before," she pointed out.

"I know, I just assumed that-" She shook her head. "Irrelevant. Point being, I just wanted to make sure you were okay." She glanced forward, and was enlightened to see the barn become visible over the hills, so began to walk faster. "Tch. After all that, we still bring her back! What a cloddy idea." She scoffed, rolling her eyes around her sockets. "Looks like we're sticking to daily episodes of Camp Pining Hearts and making meep morps at the barn." She shrugged her shoulders dismissively. She wasn't exactly complaining about such a possibility, as doing those activities were never a let-down.

"Mhmm," was all Lapis said, still going at her same pace as before, making it so her roommate was quite some distance ahead of her. The simple response made Peridot turned her head back to her, and she noticed how slow she was walking compared to her, which caused her to stop and wait for her friend to catch up. However, when she was finally at her side, she didn't begin moving again straight away.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay?" she questioned, squinting. Lapis' eye twitched.

" _I_ -" She stopped herself from snapping at her by clenching her teeth, cutting off her own sentence. "No."

Peridot frowned. "Do you want to discuss your feelings?"

The blue gem sighed, then shook her head. "Can we just go and watch Camp Pining Hearts?"

She couldn't protest. "...Okay."

Once they made it back to the barn after a short and silent journey, Lapis lifted Peridot up onto their balcony and dropped her in front of the television, while making herself comfortable on the other side of the truck, leaning back on the wall behind her while she watched the younger gem insert a DVD from a pile next to the Earth device into the slot. Soon, opening credits were rolling, and Peridot crawled over to sit next to Lapis.

They stared at the screen, watching as Percy and Paulette darted through the woods, both of them constantly looking over their shoulders as they fled from some unknown enemy.

" _Go on ahead, Paulette! I'll hold this thing off!"_

" _But, Percy! What if you get hurt?"_

" _It will hurt me more to see_ you _hurt!"_

Peridot snorted. "Oh, come on, Percy. In any other situation you would've returned to the camp to retrieve reinforcements! You just don't think logically around that clod, do you?"

She heard no mutters of agreement. Curious, she glanced at Lapis. Her dark eyes were stuck to the screen, but they weren't moving. They didn't follow Percy's gaze. They didn't scan the background to search for what was chasing the two characters through the woods.

She knew she wasn't watching the show. Not like she usually would.

But Lapis didn't want to talk about it. She had no idea how to get her to spill her worries - she'd simply have to wait until she was ready. All she could do for now is lay a hand on her arm, a reminder that she was still here, and that she wasn't alone.

After a while of the show playing in the background, but now neither of them paying it much attention, Lapis suddenly murmured,

"She was looking at you."

Peridot glanced up at her, puzzled to what she was referring to.

"Um, what?"

The gem didn't look at her with her anxiety-filled eyes.

"When we were walking back to the warp pad. She was looking at you, and I didn't like the look in her eyes."

Peridot dragged her gaze away from her roommate, biting the inside of her cheek. She'd felt uncomfortable being in the same room as Jasper, but she'd noticed nothing like Lapis' description.

She then looked back at her, and decided she looked worried enough.

"Pssh. She's probably humiliated by the fact that, out of all the gems, it was a little, limb enhancer-less Peridot that ultimately defeated her!" She cackled. "I bet not even _Garnet_ saw that coming!"

Lapis' eyes finally found her, and she stared at her, frowning.

"Please. I just don't want her to hurt you. Or Steven."

She blinked a couple of times in a row, before giving an appreciative smile. "No one will get hurt. They've got this under control." She flicked her hand forward. "And she's not going to hurt you. Or me. Or Steven. She's on her last leg, and I think she knows that. Hurting us won't benefit her in any way."

The corners of Lapis' eyes creased. "Are you sure?"

"Name a time when I was wrong about _anything_!"

She arched a brow. "Yesterday you said that those bees would agree to a peace treaty."

Her smug grin disappeared, replaced with a look of vexation.

"Well why _wouldn't_ they?" she exclaimed.

"Perhaps they would've if you didn't give them the treaty by attaching it to a frisbee and throwing it at their hive."

"I wasn't going to just _walk_ _up_ to them. Last time that happened they all swarmed me and stuck those tiny stingers into my form!" She pouted, folding her arms grumpily. Lapis snorted.

"Why didn't you just retreat into your gem?" she asked, the corners of her lips finally quirking up.

"I wasn't going to be _poofed_ by such small, insignificant beings!" she jeered. Lapis laughed. Finally, she was happy again. Peridot smiled.

"You try it someday, Lazuli!" she challenged playfully.

The blue gem raised her brows. "I don't think I will."

"What? Afraid I'll come out as superior with my methods?" she taunted, smirking. Lapis remained deadpan.

"No. I'm just smart enough to know approaching bees isn't a good idea."

Peridot gasped over dramatically. "Oh, now you're saying I'm dumb?"

"No, you just make some dumb decisions."

She glared at the taller gem, eyes narrowed, while her smile grew by each second, humiliating Peridot even more.

" _Pierre? It was you chasing us the whole time?"_

They both turned their heads to the television. Peridot then blurted out,

"Predictable!"

Lapis laughed. "I know, right."

And for that afternoon, they forgot about all that may have worried them before.

At least, Peridot hoped that was the case.


	6. Chapter 6 - Prisoner on Earth

Yet again the Earth's sun had descended behind the ocean, and throughout these past few days, Jasper had never been happy.

Granted, she wasn't _happy_ , but at least Rose, the runt and the servant had all departed. Sure, the fusion wouldn't take her three eyes off of her, but out of all of the members, she probably liked her the best. All that being down to the fact that she didn't speak a word. Finally, some silence in this pathetic base.

She had been spending most of her time running her fingers over the rough, uneven skin on her left arm, while also glaring at any Crystal Gem that walked past. Occasionally she'd pick up the shard of rock given to her by the human who Rose had brought over, swing it around with the chain looped around her finger, then dropped it again once she grew bored. That was a very good word to describe her mood. _Bored_.

She was bored of waiting. Tired of being trapped here on Earth, now with no hope of taking revenge on her arch nemesis. Actually, no, she _did_ have a chance. Many, many chances, in fact. But even if she were to take advantage of that, there would be no future. There was no way she'd be able to return to Homeworld.

"I'll be back."

Jasper was snapped out of her thoughts when the fusion finally spoke, standing up from the plush seat beside the transparent pane built in the wall and reaching for the door handle. The quartz stared at her, puzzled.

"You're going to leave me unguarded?"

The fusion nodded. "Yep." She then shut the door behind her. Jasper blinked, bemused by the fact that she had just abandoned her post, before shaking the thought off once she realized that she really _didn't_ care.

For a while, she stayed in that very place, sitting on the sofa while she dragged her eyes over the base. Eventually, her attention was drawn to the white case, standing upright and leaning against the wall. There was nothing special about it visually, however she had witnessed Rose and the defective quartz retrieve substances from it, then consuming them. It was disgusting to watch.

She had to wonder why they engaged in such a vile activity though. She had come to recognize Amethyst and Rose's new form as especially weak. Perhaps it was some gross method to add to their physical strength.

Either way, her curiosity was peaked, so she decided to stand up and walk over to the shiny case, kneeled down in front of it and wrapped on finger around the handle. She gave it a weak tug, and it opened up. Strange, no code needed to unlock it.

She squinted as she gazed at the unusual substances inside. They were all of different colours - some wrapped in a thin material while others were left naked. Some were more disgusting than others. The red chunks that dripped with some sort of liquid were especially gag-inducing. Her jaw hung open slightly as she scanned the solids and liquids, until a putrid taste drifted onto her tongue. She clamped her mouth shut and slammed the door, hearing the objects inside topple over by the force, then stood up to return to her post.

She hated the Earth. She hated the planet, and everything on it, whether they be living here, or something inanimate. She _hated_ it.

Her body dropped onto the sofa again, and she let herself sink back into the seat, staring up at the ceiling. There were no benefits to this planet.

And she _hated_ that.

She sat there, motionless, for a long while afterwards. Each time she would glance at the sky above her, she would see that hundreds more stars had appeared.

Then the door clicked.

It was the fusion.

She wasn't happy to see her by any means, but it was better than literally anyone else.

Almost anyone, anyway.

"I'm back," the fusion said simply.

"I noticed," she shot back. She watched her sit down on the seat across the room, settling something on her lap.

Curious, Jasper observed her pull out a small, black object with one side being shiny and the other a lot more dull. It looked like some sort of device - one that was very primitive looking.

Her suspicions were confirmed when the gloved hands pressed what she assumed to be a button on the rim of the object, lighting up the screen. She watched her thumbs and fingers tap and swipe the screen, until finally she wasn't interested anymore. Just as she turned away from the device, the door swung open, revealing the trio that she would've been fine with never seeing again.

"We're back!" Amethyst announced loudly, literally for no reason. She and Garnet were literally inches from where she was standing.

Rose let out a yawn. "As fun as that was… I think I'm gonna get some shut-eye. I'm exhausted…" She stretched her limbs out.

"Aw, going to sleep so soon?" Pearl teased, arching a brow. Leave it to Rose to own a pearl with such disrespectful behaviour.

"Pearl, it's like… two in the morning," Rose stated, rubbing her eyes. She chuckled.

"I know, I'm only playing. You get your rest, Steven."

"Don't worry, I will." She trudged upstairs, and noises of her gathering what she assumed to be her alternative appearance modifiers that she had carelessly scattered in her base, rather than using the storage within the pearl's gem. Instead, she had chosen to take up what could've been useful space for something completely unnecessary. Rose returned with the yellow fabric tucked underneath her arm, and she walked past Jasper with a tired look in her brown eyes.

"Hi, Jasper," she said drowsily. Her voice was despicable.

She made her way towards the room that was to her left, and shut the door behind her. Jasper dragged her gaze away and back to the others.

"Pearl," Garnet suddenly spoke, standing up. Before the servant could reply, the fusion held her arm out, the primitive device tightly gripped in her hand. "For you." She smiled.

Pearl stared at the object, while the runt's grin widened.

"Ohoho! Alright, Garnet!" she cheered, staring at the device estatically. Pearl eventually slipped it out of the fusion's fingers and commanded the screen to light up by pressing the button on the side.

"A phone?" She smiled gingerly. "Oh, Garnet, you shouldn't have!"

"Yes, I really should have." She held up a thumb - a gesture Jasper didn't understand. She assumed it was a gesture to store it in the servant's gem.

But she didn't do that. Instead, she pulled out a small white strip of material from her gem and held it out in front of her with her spare hand and began muttering to herself,

"Right… so I think you can add these codes to phones somewhere? Erm… how does Steven do it…"

Amethyst rolled her eyes and began directing her to different corners on the screen. It soon became tedious, and Jasper lost all focus on the two.

After a while of the four of them discussing instructions in how to use the 'phone', Rose once again walked past, now wearing her alternative appearance modifiers and carrying her original in her tiny palms. She stopped in front of her teammates, observing them with curiosity.

"What's going on, gang?" she asked. Amethyst turned around, grinning.

"Garnet got Pearl a phone! Now she can call her mystery girl." She wiggled her eyebrows, nudging her leader with her elbow. Rose's eyes grew round as she looked at both Ruby and Sapphire.

"Really? How'd you know she'd need a-"

"Future vision." A corner of her lip quirked up. Rose nodded knowingly.

"Right. Well…" She yawned again. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, guys!"

"Goodnight, Steven."

"Sweet dreams, Steven!"

"Seeya tomorrow, Ste-man."

As Rose made her way up the stairs, she murmured a,

"Goodnight, Jasper."

Jasper refused to reply. Especially not with that strange name that they wouldn't stop using.

She waited for those footsteps to fade behind her, replaced by the squeaking of the 'bed' Rose used to regain energy that she had somehow lost.

"Oh!" The excited squeal from the pearl caught her attention. She had a wide grin spread across her face, all white teeth visible. She'd never seen a pearl with such an attitude. It was disgraceful.

"Looks like you're all set, P!" Amethyst laughed, smirking. "You should go call her right now!" Her fists bobbed up and down enthusiastically.

Pearl pursed her lips. "Hmm… I don't know, Amethyst. Humans are usually asleep at this time, aren't they?"

The runt rolled her eyes. "Not a gal as cool as her. Sleep is for the weak!"

"So _that's_ why you do it," Jasper mumbled under her breath. Literally seconds after she said that, the traitors turned their heads to glare at her.

"Ugh, way to ruin the mood," Amethyst mumbled, crossing her short arms over her chest. Pearl sighed.

"Just ignore her, Amethyst. She's just not willing to accept that she's lost."

The little quartz furrowed a brow at her. "Uh… yeah," she said quietly. "Say… why don't you spend some alone time with your new _girlfriend_?" The corners of her mouth quirked up again, her brow raised. The colour blue practically glowed in the darkness of the house upon the servant's face.

"Amethyst! She's not my _girlfriend_!"

"Not yet." Garnet lowered her visor from her face, only just so her eyes were visible. Her red eye winked, while she smiled.

Jasper had literally no idea what was going on.

Pearl's lips scrunched up as her blush deepened. "Look, I'm not- if I were to actually be involved with her romantically then I'd need to do a lot of research on that human custom… what was it called?"

"Dating?" Amethyst guessed.

"Yes, that."

"Well then, you better get researching." Garnet folded her arms. Pearl's hands dropped to her sides as she sighed.

"Now?"

"Whenever you want."

Amethyst stuck her tongue out. "As in, as soon as possible. You two are already _so close_." She practically sang those two last words. She then pointed towards the phone in her hand. "You can find all the info you need on the internet."

Pearl glanced at the phone. "Hm… I think I'll just figure out how to use it before anything, Amethyst."

"That's fair. Now-" She skidded behind her teammates, then gave them a light nudge forward. "You go and play with your new girlfriend, while you go take a break from guardin' duty. It's my turn to watch over Jasper tonight."

Pearl gave a her a look. "Are you sure, Amethyst? I mean, I don't mind-"

"No. Work out how to use that phone. I wanna hear you using all the pick-up lines you can think of!" She pushed her again.

"Uhm…" Pearl gave an uncertain look, before giving in and began walking towards the temple door. Garnet followed after her, not saying a word. The door parted by the gems' commands, allowing them to step inside. From what Jasper could see, leaning forward quite far, they had entered a heated red room, but that's all she could catch a glance of before the traitors disappeared behind the closing entrance.

As soon as it did so, Amethyst whipped her head around, dark blue eyes locking with amber. She scowled as she marched towards her.

"So, are you ever gonna _not_ be an ungrateful bag o' dirt?" The defective quartz stopped on the other side of the table sitting in front of her, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jasper leaned back, arching a brow while giving her a bemused look. "I never was one in the first place, runt."

The purple gem scoffed, her lavender hair flopping over one eye. She didn't bother removing it.

"Keep telling yourself that, buff gruff." Her face scrunched up with disgruntlement. "You wouldn't be here if it weren't for us."

She stifled her laughter at such a statement. "And that's supposed the change anything in what way, exactly?"

Amethyst's eye twitched. "Uh, the fact that you're not gonna be trapped in a bubble as some corrupted form? That might be an ice-breaker."

Jasper rolled her eyes, tearing her gaze away from the tiny gem. "Well, it isn't."

From the corner of her eye, she saw her bury her face in the palm of her hand.

"Look, I get ya really hate us all, and I get your reasons to why that is exactly, but could you at least show _some_ gratitude? Even the teeniest, tiniest bit? 'Cuz we're not really enjoying you sittin' in our house as you just stare at everyone who walks past either!"

The quartz soldier snorted. "If I bother you so much, then either heal me or poof me. Not that hard to figure out, runt."

She snarled. "I dunno if you've noticed, but we're doing just that. Healing you, I mean."

"Wow, really? You mean, you lot standing around eyeing me while I sit here, unable to move at will was you healing me _all this time_?" She sarcastically gasped, her hand on her chest. "Oh, my apologies! I don't know how I didn't notice!"

Amethyst arched a brow. "Who said you weren't allowed to move without our say-so?"

"No one. But you wouldn't let me either way - I'm your prisoner, no matter how hard you try to convince me otherwise."

She was sure of that, because there was nothing else she could possibly be viewed as right now.

Amethyst's arms slumped to her sides as she took a couple of steps towards the door. She grabbed hold of the handle, then swung it open.

"You can leave if you want," she simply said.

Jasper raised a brow at her, before glancing at the open door.

"What?"

The tiny gem shrugged, pouting. "Like, if you wanna go… then go. I won't stop you. Steven won't stop you. Pearl and Garnet won't know." She directed her to the exit with her little hands. "If you're so desperate to get out of here, then we'll let you."

Jasper squinted at the door - opened up just for her. The thought of escaping this cramped little base was more than appealing, as was the idea of never having to look at these Crystal Gems in the face every damn sunrise. Amethyst was right - she was desperate to get out of here.

And yet, she didn't move. Her finger didn't even twitch in anticipation. She simply stayed put.

"No," she replied dryly. Amethyst's face scrunched up in confusion.

"No?" she echoed. "It's not like I'm able to stop you."

She laughed at that, because it was true. "I'm aware, runt." She dragged her gaze away from the door. "But it doesn't matter _where_ I go. I could run as far away from you Crystal Gems as I possibly could, but it wouldn't change anything."

She heard the door click, and small footsteps followed. Soon, the defect came into her view again, as she hopped onto the table sitting in front of her. Her face was no longer tight with anger, and was instead replaced with a look of curiosity.

"What d'ya mean?" she questioned.

The huge quartz debated answering any more questions asked from her enemy. She debated answering questions asked by _herself_. Because a lot of them, she didn't want answering.

Whatever, this was fine.

"Staying here is the only chance I have." If the little embarrassment wasn't sitting inches away from her, she would've shuddered at the confession. She chanced a glance with her, expecting her to taunt her for finally accepting her fate, but she wasn't.

She still looked _confused_.

Was she really this idiotic?

"I know," she suddenly answered, catching her attention. "I mean, the only other healing powers on Earth is Rose's fountain, but it wouldn't do much even if you were to find it." She drummed her fingers on the table. "So yeah, I get Steven is like, all you got right now, so…"

"So…?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, it's like you don't _wanna_ be healed! So I just don't get why you even wanna stay here."

"I _don't_ want to stay here."

"Okay, yeah, I get that." She took a moment to blow her hair out of her face, only to let it fall over her eye once again. "But if you don't want us to heal you, then why stay?"

Jasper fiddled with a spike sticking out of her arm. "I don't have anywhere to go."

"What about the kindergarten? Or the ocean? You seemed just fine living there before."

"You mean, before I lost? Yeah, I was."

Amethyst pursed her lips, then sighed. "I'm sorry that happened."

Now it was Jasper who was puzzled. And it showed. "What?"

"Y'know… that." She unfolded her hand towards her corrupted arm. "I get that it sucks. But here's the thing - you're lucky that Steven's healing powers worked so well. Last time we tried healing a corrupted gem, she couldn't even talk." Her eyes narrowed. "So I don't get why you're acting so horrible."

The older gem groaned. "Must I repeat every word to you? There's nothing to be grateful for."

"But-"

"Try to convince me all you want, runt. But I meant it when I said that I didn't want to be healed." She raised a finger and pressed it against Amethyst's forehead, much to her discomfort. "Why can't you just get that through that little head of yours?"

Once the huge orange finger was removed, Amethyst glared at her with a cold blue gaze. "Probably 'cuz I don't know why you wouldn't wanna be healed."

Jasper paused. She bit her lip, preventing herself from speaking another word to her fellow quartz, as she thought about what she should say next.

"Well, why would _you_ want to heal me?" she retorted coldly. "It's because of you lot that this happened to me!" She held out her corrupted arm in front of her, but soon withdrew it when a sharp pain travelled from her huge fingertips to her head. She made sure not to show any signs of pain. Luckily for her, the little gem didn't seem to notice.

"Um… no it isn't. That was your fault," she replied bluntly. Jasper blinked at her, rage beginning to build up in her chest.

Then she thought for a moment.

And for a while longer.

Okay, perhaps it wasn't _Amethyst's_ fault.

She then gritted her teeth and sighed.

"It doesn't matter whose fault it was," she muttered. "Because either way, I can't go back to Homeword."

Amethyst tilted her head to the side. "Why not?"

She tensed up, becoming more irritated by the gem's idiocy by the second. "Because of this!" She gestured towards the side of her form that was corrupted. "It's because of _this_ that I'm one of _you_!"

The defect squinted. "You're saying that you're a Crystal Gem?"

"By the definition, yes," she hissed. "I'm just like _you_ \- a defect, some sort of disgrace to Homeworld."

For a moment, Amethyst had no reaction. Then, her face dropped. Into a look of pity. Oh, how low Jasper had stooped to be pitied by this puny embarrassment.

"Don't look at me like that," she growled. Expectedly, however, she didn't obey, much to her annoyance.

"So… you're not leaving because we're your only chance you _won't_ be a 'defect'?" She used quotations for that last word with her fingers

Jasper gave her a slow clap. "Congrats, you repeated what I literally just said."

But she was too lost in her own thoughts to hear her.

Suddenly, she leaped forward, landing on the couch beside her, next to her normal arm. The gem being so close was unnerving, so she shifted away from her, before she spoke.

"Why do you think you're a defect?"

Jasper's lip curled. "I figured it was obvious enough for anyone to work out?"

"Tell me anyway."

She saw little point to this. At this point, she was repeating her own words over and over again.

"In the state I'm in, I can't serve the Diamonds. I'm no longer fit to do so." Her hand was now on her lap, curling up into a fist. "It's a shame. Back on Homeworld, meeting me was an honor. It has been that way for many, many years." The corner of her lip quirked up as memories came flooding back to her, ones that she had somehow forgotten about. "From the moment I left the Earth's crust, I was what you would call the ultimate quartz. I was practically _worshipped_ , considering the fact I was made in that mess of a kindergarten." She scowled. "How curious that I came out perfect in the Beta Kindergarten and you came out small in the Prime Kindergarten."

Amethyst muttered something under her breath in response. This amused Jasper for a short while, before she frowned again.

"But now? I'm just as much as a disgrace as you are."

Silence dropped on them both. She could hear the faint breathing of Rose somewhere behind them, but other than that, there no sound.

"You we're a big deal on Homeworld, huh?" Amethyst then spoke up. Jasper arched a brow.

"I was. But I'm not anymore, am I?" Her hand trailed up her corrupted arm, nails scratching the rough, gag-inducing skin. "I would've been better off bubbled away. Gems like me - if you could even call me that - fail to fulfill our only purpose."

Another silence that dragged out longer than it really was.

"I dunno. You're still pretty big to me."

That's not what she meant.

But it was also very, very true.

She couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"That's not saying very much, runt," she jeered, giving her a sly glance. To her surprise, Amethyst was laughing along.

"Yeah, well, it's saying _something_ , right?" She shrugged, before hopping onto the floor. "Look, what I'm trying to say is… we're really trying. I'm sorry we don't really know how to heal you completely… but we've never been able to, to be fair." She folded her arms as she stared at the ground. "Just uh… keep hoping for the best, I guess?"

The bottom of Jasper's eye crinkled up. "What else can I really do?" she asked rhetorically. Despite that, she still got an answer.

"I dunno. If you find anything that you find fun or whatever, tell me." She then turned her back towards her, walking across the room, letting the faint light reflected from the moon brush over her messy little bush she had for hair. Jasper stared at her as she stopped in front of the white crate, before swinging it open with little effort.

With her stubby fingers, she grabbed a long, narrow, red container with a thin lid. She swung the crate door shut, allowing a loud slam to ring throughout the base, then she hopped onto the counter and began squirting a red substance into her mouth.

It was _still_ disgusting. She had to look away, cringing as she did so.

"Maybe explain to me why you do _that_ ," she spat.

The sound of liquid splattering onto her tongue stopped, and she took that as a sign that she could face her again, only to grow even more discomforted by the eager eyes of the defect, her dark-coloured eyes practically sparkling with anticipation.

"Ohohoh, you betcha I can!" she squealed giddily.

Jasper let out a frustrated groan.

 _I'm already filled with regret. I really don't need any more._


	7. Chapter 7 - Hard to Swallow

"...and this is what we call bacon. It's another type of meat, and it tastes super good when you fry it," Amethyst finished, dropping the bacon on the table. She beamed, then looked back up at Jasper, who was eyeing the row of food placed in front of her with curiosity, confusion and slight disgust.

"And you Crystal Gems absorb these substances into your form?" she questioned, cringing at the thought.

"Nah, Pearl hates eating, and Garnet doesn't do it very often," she explained, reaching for a packet of chips. "It's mainly just Steven and I, and obviously everything else on the planet." She squeezed one end of the bag, forcing all the air contained inside to retreat to the opposite end, until it couldn't contain it anymore, and broke out with a loud burst. Some flakes of the food retreated into the air, floating towards the large quartz, who batted them away with her normal hand.

"Ugh. I'm actually agreeing with the pearl," she muttered.

"But you haven't even had one bite!" she protested, mouth now full of the golden brown slices. She then reached into the packet and yanked out a singular chip, then held it out in front of her. "Just one! I promise, you'll love it!"

Jasper stared at the food for a while longer, squinting at it. She lifted her hand and moved her finger and thumb towards out, before crushing the pathetic thing between them. She withdrew her hand and looked at her digits, her finger and thumb now covered in orange dust.

"I fail to see the point in this. I get why something as inefficient as a human would consume this, but even a defect like you has all the energy you need from your gem." She arched a brow. "Don't you?"

The tiny quartz was sucking on her own crusted fingers. "Oh, yeah, I do. I just eat 'cuz it's fun." She flopped onto her back, allowing the early rays of sunlight to fall on her through the transparent gaps in the wall. "Mush passin' through my body just feels great."

Jasper scowled at the thought of disrespecting your form in such a way, and hastily brushed the leftover crumbs onto her leotard, leaving on orange smear on the dark fabric.

"So, what, do you just spit it out later?" she questioned. "Do you just store it at the back of your mouth?"

Amethyst's eyes widened, before she burst into laughter.

"Pssh… no! There's a method to it." She smirked, winking at her. "Now, whether or not you wanna know is up to you…"

What was this defect on about?

"I'll admit, runt, you have my curiosity bloody peaked," she grunted. "Tell me, just how do you perform this vile Earth ritual?"

She snickered, leaping onto her feet and cantering over to the couch. She climbed onto the plush surface and gestured for Jasper to lean closer to her, as even when she stood up, she still wasn't even at shoulder-height. Reluctantly, she lowered her head so that the runt could whisper into her ear the process of eating.

And with each word, she wanted to gag.

Soon, Amethyst fell onto her rump, and Jasper pulled her head away, trying to process what she had just heard.

"That's-"

"-Awesome?"

"No," she hissed. "That's… that's _beyond_ horrific." She clenched her teeth. "Why would you _do_ that?"

She shrugged dismissively. "I'm already a defect, so I might as well, right?" She then tossed the whole chip packet into her mouth, grinded it into shreds, then proceeded to swallow it, waiting for the digestion procedure to begin. Jasper let out grumbles of distress as she did so. As soon as the whole thing was gulped down, Amethyst licked her lips and gave her a smug grin. "Also, this is Earth. Free will, baby!"

"Baby?" Jasper echoed, arching a brow. Amethyst fluttered her lashes, before letting out a chuckle, realizing the situation.

"Oh, just what humans call their kids as soon as they come out the womb," she explained. Though, Jasper still had no clue to what she was on about.

"I don't have a clue what a kid or a womb is."

The little quartz clamped her teeth down on her lip as she attempted, very poorly, might she add, to hold back her giggles.

"I'll tell ya when you're a bit older," she replied in between laughs. Jasper curled her lip.

"I'm several hundred years older than you."

Amethyst pursed her lips as she held her gaze.

"...Yeah, but I don't really wanna sit here and give you a human biology lesson. Things get pretty weird."

Well then, it was a good thing Jasper didn't want to sit around and listen to her immature ramblings.

"But hey," she suddenly chimed, "you don't have to go through all of that if you just lick your fingers." She pointed to her hand, which was now free from the leftover crumbs. "I don't trust anyone who doesn't lick them after eating chips, actually."

She arched a brow at her, before glancing at her hand in search for any dust that she had missed, wanting her limb to be completely stripped of any evidence that she had gone anywhere near any type of 'food'.

"I don't trust anyone who swallows this mush," she mumbled.

"Eh, you didn't trust me anyway." She swiped a thin container of of the counter, flicked a shiny item forwards, which triggered a fizzing sound to seep from the top that was now opened up. "But, seriously, at least dab your tongue on some cheeto dust or something. It tastes so good!" She then took a swig of the liquid sloshing inside the metal container.

The thought wasn't at all appealing to Jasper. Even if she didn't have to swallow said 'cheeto dust', the idea of any sort of Earth substance entering her mouth almost made her shudder.

"So, there's no other benefit to eating?" she questioned dryly. "Does it not allow you to gain more energy than your gem provides?"

Amethyst wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, cleaning it of the bubbly liquid she was chugging. "It tastes really good, there's that."

"They have a pleasurable taste?"

"You tell me." She wiggled her eyebrows at her, smirking. Jasper snarled back at her, before letting her eyes landed on a red and green slice of some unknown food, the red part having a bright orange shimmer splattered across it from the sun beams shining into the house. She could also see tiny black specks scattered across it somewhere inside. If she were to compare it to the other options on the table, it was the most appealing. She wasn't sure why, but it was.

Hesitantly she reached her finger forwards, then scraped it on the slippery red surface. As expected, a thin layer had stuck to her skin, along with a large chunk caught underneath her fingernail. She stared at it for a while longer, teeth clenched. Did she really want to put this on her tongue?

Well, she had to, otherwise Amethyst wasn't going to stop staring at her with a huge grin and gleaming eyes.

She groaned to herself, before catching her finger with her tongue, and allowed the flavor to set.

"What d'ya think?" the tiny quartz asked impatiently. Jasper gave her a bemused look.

"I don't taste anything."

Amethyst frowned in disappointment, then sighed. "Yeah, watermelon doesn't have much of a flavour unless you take an actual bite of it." She reached for the plate that held the 'watermelon' and raised it up towards her. "But it's pretty good. And you can spit it out afterwards if you want." She smiled hopefully. "C'mon, I think you'd really like it!"

The older quartz leaned back a little, away from the plate. She glanced at her, irritated by her persistence, then back at the watermelon slice.

The longer she stared at it, a strange feeling welled up inside of her. She just couldn't name it.

She wanted the feeling to cease existing, though.

Reluctantly, she tore of the corner of the slice, and was careful to not let it slip out of her grip, considering how smooth and wet the surface was. The corner of one of her eyes creased as she pulled it towards her mouth, and she cringed as soon as her teeth came into contact with it. The entire time, Amethyst grinned childishly.

She felt the need to grind it with her teeth, which released its apparent 'flavour'. At first, it tasted of the ocean, minus the salt, until an unusual sweetness that would never be found on the battlefield hit her tastebuds. It was strange, as gems, especially ones that lacked a sense sponge, only ever used taste to analyse the scenery. Not every for some sort of leisure. She admitted to herself, it was nice to not having the bitterness of dust and soot to drown out of her tastebuds for once.

However, she couldn't say she'd _never_ experienced this flavour before. Her mind just couldn't pinpoint where.

Not on Homeworld.

Not in the Kindergarten.

Not in the ocean.

Where did she taste this kind of sweetness? She tried to think - so many of her memories were blurred.

That is, until she finally remembered.

 _The huge figure emerged from the water below, towering over the ledge, where one tiny striped shape stood, cowering before her. The shape was familiar, yet so conflicting. One second, she despised it, the other she was willing to sacrifice her own safety for its sake. She growled in frustration, wishing she could take some sort of control over her thoughts, while pinning the little form with her cold, caustic gaze._

 _She then finally decided to act upon her thoughts, the chosen thought being one of hatred. She lunged forward, and caught it in her mouth, her jagged teeth slicing through the weak form, the sweet taste seeping through the tears in the rough flesh._

 _Soon she felt the chains she had latched around herself begin to drag herself back down, and in the midst of the struggle, she swallowed the pile of mush out of rage, wishing to bring as much pain to the being as she possible could before being dragged to the bottom of-_

"Woah!"

Jasper was yanked back into reality by Amethyst yelping, dodging a mashed up red pile as it was launched over to where she was standing. The huge quartz had no idea what was happening around her, as she was too busy coughing up the leftover flavour in her mouth. She wanted it to be _gone_.

"Yo, are you okay?" she hard Amethyst ask over her gagging. She gripped onto her chest, trying to control herself, while the more she coughed, the more her throat began to sting.

"Um, Jasper?"

Finally, she bit back to urge to continue, and lifted her head to look at the defect, still gripping her chest as to make sure she wouldn't begin hacking up her own saliva once again. She clenched her teeth and squinted her eyes, in an attempt to act like her chest wasn't acting up.

"Uh, guys?" That grating voice didn't make things any better. "What's going on? What happened?"

Jasper weakly looked up to see a tired-looking Rose staring down at them with concern, her brown curly hair ruffled and formless and her eyes droopy and exhausted.

"I think Jasper choked on a watermelon seed," Amethyst replied, very incorrectly at that.

She was about to shoot back at her with a snarky retort, but instead of speaking with her normal voice, she ended up blurting out some raspy whine, followed by yet another series of coughs and gags. All the while, the pain in her throat spread to her chest.

"Woah, Jasper!" She knew Rose had landed next to her. "Hold still, I got you."

Tears had appeared in her eyes at this point, but through them, she could see the blurry image of Rose's hand reaching out towards her. She batted it away.

"I'm… f-uh…. fine…" she wheezed in between coughs.

"You don't look fine, dude," Amethyst pointed out.

Jasper gave one last powerful cough, spit spraying all over her thighs. Her throat felt cleared, at least for now, though she still felt the sharp stinging disturbing her chest. It was as if she was being stabbed from the inside. She kept her hand glued to where it hurt, wishing for it to go away.

"What happened?" Rose asked, staring at Jasper with much concern. Amethyst just shrugged.

"She took a bite of watermelon and started choking."

Rose looked as if she was about to ask another question, but the large quartz' groans caught her attention.

"Ah… Jasper!" She gasped in horror, pointing towards where her hand was grappling. She arched a brow, before removing her limb to search for what she was looking at.

And when she saw it for herself, terror struck her like a sword.

"No, no! You're reverting!" Rose panicked as she stared at the sickly green skin crawling along her chest, dripping from her arm.

"Hold still!" the puny form commanded, smearing her hand with her saliva, before slapping it on her gem. It was unexpected, and she didn't really want her to touch her in any way so she shut her eyes and jerked her head back.

There was a long, tense silence after that.

"Phew!" She heard Amethyst speak. From what she could tell, it was a good sign.

"Jasper, it's okay," Rose spoke up, "it stopped."

The half-corrupted gem opened one eye and peeked at her chest, and was both relieved and frustrated that the turquoise colour had stopped infecting her form, but hadn't reversed itself either.

And whose fault was it that this happened?

She shot a ferocious glare at the tiny quartz standing in front of her, only a table separating them both. Amethyst winced when she noticed her.

"Hey, I'm sorry, I've never heard of a gem reverting because they _ate_ something!" She raised her hands out in front of her in defence. Rose quickly pounced in between them.

"Okay, okay, I'm sure that _eating_ didn't cause this," she said, before nervously glancing at the food on the table. "But… just in case." She leaped off of the couch and landed beside the table, and gathered all the food that she could carry in her short, stubby arms. "Let's put this away." She glanced at Amethyst, who nodded frantically.

"Yeah, let's do that." She mimicked Rose in carrying all the food she could, and followed her to the kitchen, where they dumped the piles of food onto the counter. Despite their efforts to gather as much as they could, they still left some substances behind.

Including what she had just put in her mouth.

She stared at it, rage bubbling inside her as each second passed by, while thoughts buzzed around her head.

 _You did this to me._

 _This is your fault._

 _Look at what you've become._

Until finally, she swung her arm forward, flinging the plate across the room. It landed with a loud smash, white pieces scattered all over the floor, along with the watermelon slice leaving a trail of splattered across the wooden planks.

Rose and Amethyst stared at the scene before them, before sharing a worried glance with each other.

"Yep, let's just keep the food in the fridge from now on…" Rose suggested.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky when the barn finally came into view. After the little discourse that played out this morning, Steven had suggested to Amethyst that they should pay a visit to Peridot and Lapis. Just to give Jasper some space.

"I just don't get it. How did she start reverting after eating some _watermelon_?" Amethyst yelled in a frustrated manner. "It wasn't even that much! Just a tiny corner, that's all!" She created a small gap between her finger and thumb in order to demonstrate just how tiny the piece was.

Steven sighed. "I… don't know. I'm sure that couldn't have been it." He furrowed his brow. "But nevermind that. We're here to have fun!" He smiled, picking up his pace towards the barn. Amethyst, however, did not speed up.

"With Lapis," she stated dryly.

"And Peridot!" Steven added enthusiastically. "And Lapis really is a lot of fun. You just gotta get to know her, that's all."

"Ew, effort to bond with someone," she jokingly groaned. "As if I can be bothered."

"Really? Because it looks to me like you and Jasper were talking all night." A simper appeared on his lips. "I mean, it's pretty impressive that she was actually talking to you."

The quartz gave a thoughtful smile. "Yeah, I guess so." She scratched the back of her head. "If she was nicer, I think she'd be really funny." Her eyes rolled around her sockets. "She really needs to loosen up."

Steven chuckled. "I'm sure she will, we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

They both looked in front of them, and saw that they were now standing just outside the barn. The boy grinned, then ran up to the door and knocked.

"Peridot! Lapis! It's me, Steven!" he called.

"And me, I'm here too," Amethyst added.

They both waited outside for a while with no reply, until finally the door slid open, leaving a small gap. There, they saw Peridot poke her head through.

"Oh, Steven! Amethyst!" She beamed excitedly, then opened the door further. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Aren't I always?" Amethyst smirked. Steven laughed.

"Well, yes, but I am superior," Peridot boasted, shooting her a smug grin, "otherwise you wouldn't come all the way out here _just_ to visit yours truly."

"And Lapis," Steven pointed out. She pursed her lips.

"Alright, fair enough." She then glanced over her shoulder. "Speaking of which, I'm sure she'd be happy to see you!" She spun around and faced towards the inside of the barn, and took a deep breath before yelling, "HEY, LAPIS! STEVEN AND AMETHYST ARE HERE!"

From somewhere inside, Amethyst heard the blue gem yell back, "Steven's here?"

 _Thanks for acknowledging me_ , Amethyst thought.

"Yeah!" Peridot called back. Following that was the sound of water wings beating in the air, until eventually the blue gem came into view. Her hair was ruffled up and messy, and she looked a little tired, but that didn't stop her from smiling at the sight of her friend.

"Hi, Lapis!" Steven greeted happily.

"Hi, Steven! I didn't know you were coming round today."

Steven twiddled his thumbs. "Oh, we weren't. But, uhh…" He glanced at Amethyst.

"Some stuff went down at the temple," she stated. "So we figured we better spend the rest of the day somewhere else."

Peridot's nose scrunched up. "Let me take a guess. Something happened with Jasper."

Amethyst and Steven both nodded simultaneously.

"Figures."

The quartz bit the inside of her cheek. "Eh, to be fair, it wasn't really her fault this time."

Peridot and Lapis gave her a quizzical look.

"Amethyst, it wasn't your fault either," Steven said. "Besides, no one has any idea what actually happened."

"Wait, what happened?" Lapis chimed in, taking a step forward.

Steven rubbed his arm. "Well, I wasn't there for all of it, so…" He gestured towards Amethyst, who threw her arms behind her head as she thought about where she should start.

"Okay, so last night, Jasper and I were talking about stuff, and she asked me about eating food and stuff," she began, her eyes scanning the barn as she spoke. "So I went out to get some stuff I thought she might like, and eventually I convinced her to eat something." Her eyes dropped to her sides and she pouted. "I was hoping that maybe she'd like it, but apparently not."

" _Apparently_ , after she ate a slice of watermelon, she began reverting to her corrupted state," Steven finished. "We don't know what happened - or why - but that's the story."

Lapis furrowed her brow. "Wait, she reverted?"

"Oh! No, I stopped it before anything bad could happen." He gingerly smiled. "But she's still kinda mad at us, so we thought we better leave her alone."

"Sounds like you're having fun," Peridot muttered. "But, enough of that brute, because there's something the Shorty Squad needs to do!" The corners of her mouth picked up.

Steven and Amethyst glanced at each other in confusion, then back at Peridot.

"What's that?" Steven asked.

"Well, remember on the way back from the Beta Kindergarten?" She grinned ecstatically. "And I suggested we re-create Smokey Quartz' yo-yo?"

Steven gained stars in his eyes as he gasped. "Oh yeah! We never did get round to that." His body bobbed up and down eagerly. "What do you say, Amethyst? Should we get working?"

Amethyst gave a wide grin. "Heck yeah, let's do it!" She threw her arms up into the air.

"Yay!" Peridot cheered, stepping inside the barn, past Lapis. But, before going any further, she looked at her roommate. "Say, Lapis, do you wanna help?"

She looked ather roommate thoughtfully, then at Steven, then smiled. "Sure. Why not?"

Amethyst tried to hide her disappointment. _No Shorty Squad then_ , she thought to herself.

The gang all gathered inside the barn, and looking around, Amethyst had to admit that she did indeed like what the two had done to the place. You know, now that she was in a good mood.

She especially like the pile of clutter sitting along the side of the barn, along with the meep morps dotted around the room. She'd also taken in the view from outside, and took interest in the balcony made from a truck, a tent sitting outside, some random items sitting on the roof, and of course, the huge silo sticking out of the side of the barn, also creating a cool-looking aquarium. Everything came together to create this one huge mess of a home.

And she really, really liked it.

"By the way, Peri," Amethyst piped up, catching the green gem's attention. She turned around to face her, while holding some random metal items. "I really like what you guys did with the barn. It's really cool."

Peridot smiled. "Oh, thanks, Amethyst." She placed the items on the floor, next to her 'Wow, Thanks' meep morp. "It took quite a lot of planning, but I think it really came through!" Her eyes darted around the barn while she grinned proudly at her creation. "It's a good thing Lapis was here. Otherwise half of this stuff wouldn't exist!" She gestured to the aquarium in particular. Amethyst glanced at the multicoloured fishes swimming around to create a messy rainbow, then at the gem responsible, who was peeking at her roommate with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, that is pretty cool…" she murmured, looking back at the creatures darting around the water. "Hey, nice job, Lapis!" She called over to the blue gem, who looked surprised to see her acknowledging her. She gave her a blank stare at first, before offering a friendly smile, then turned back to the pile of junk in front of her to continue her search for the right materials.

"Oh, Amethyst!" Peridot suddenly said, kneeling in front of the metal materials she had found. "Which one of these do you think would make a good yo-yo model?"

Amethyst looked at the different objects - all of them a circle in shape. Then she just shrugged.

"Eh. just use all of them, I'm not too bothered as long as it looks cool."

Peridot then gasped loudly.

"You're right. Using all nine of these will create _three_ yo-yos!" She beamed. "Exactly the amount of yo-yos that Smokey Quartz has!"

That wasn't what she was aiming for, but sure.

"Aww, does that mean we need even _more_ string?" Steven whined, holding onto a thread of string in his hand.

"Oh, there should be plenty in the pile." Peridot waved her hand towards the clutter. "Just keep searching."

Steven let out a long sigh, passed the string onto Lapis, then began practically digging through the rubble. Amethyst laughed at the sight, before cantering over to stand by him.

"Yo, you'll get nowhere by doing that," she told him, nudging him with her foot. Steven looked up at her with a questionable expression.

"How else am I gonna find some tiny pieces of string in here?"

She shrugged. "I dunno, hope ya get lucky, I guess." She then bent down and leaned forward, her eyes glued to one spot right in the middle of the pile, before launching herself right into the clutter, loud crashing singing along with her excited whooping. Having landed on her belly, she had to raise her head to see the objects that had tumbled onto her; a wheel, a towel, a box and a picture frame.

"Amethyst!" Steven calling her made her scramble onto her knees and look over to where he was standing. "Be careful, that's Peridot and Lapis' stuff!"

Lapis lightly chuckled and lay a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Steven. Peridot does that all the time."

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do."

Amethyst cackled. "I must've influenced her. Sorry, Lapis."

She smiled. "Not to worry. According to her, it's a much more 'efficient' way to find things."

"Well it _is!_ " Peridot protested. "You get through a lot more stuff that way."

As this conversation happened before her, Amethyst had buried her hand in the pile of items and was rummaging through, feeling around for a soft, thin material. After a while of coming into contact with wood and metal, her fingers crawled onto a soft, round material, to which she grabbed hold of and yanked out. Once it was in clear view, she let out an 'aha!' as soon as she saw what she had found.

"Yo, Peri! D'ya think wool will work on a yo-yo?" she called out to her friend, who glanced at her hand, immediately spotting what she was referring to. She tapped her chin, before lifting her arms into the air.

"Pass it here - I'll take a look!"

Amethyst did just that - she tossed it over to her, though the ball of wool didn't land in her palm, and instead bounced off of her forehead. Once she had hold of it, she dropped onto her rump.

"Job done."

Steven chuckled. "Nice going, Amethyst."

She gave a smug grin. "See? Told ya it's best jumping into the fray."

The group spent half the afternoon building the model, while also taking breaks to drink some juice cartons and talk about their day - Peridot usually being the one to speak. She would ramble on about her and Lapis' new discoveries, which would include an ants nest that they found not too far away from the barn, as well as a bird's nest (to which they had to fix as an apology).

"To be completely fair, it wasn't _my_ fault that Lapis crashed into the tree branches!" Peridot grunted as she focused on keeping the two metal plates together as Steven looped the wool around the middle.

Lapis scoffed. "I crashed into it because you thought it would be a good idea to crawl along one of my arms."

"I wanted to get a closer look!" she objected.

"At least the bird accepted your apology," Steven pointed out. Peridot gained a slight blush on her cheeks.

"We felt really bad! I wouldn't like it if someone came along and destroyed my home."

"Yeah, that would suck." Amethyst arched a brow at her. She looked back at her with an embarrassed expression.

"Hey, I don't want to destroy the Earth anymore!" She gestured a hand towards herself, which caused one of the plates that she had been keeping in the air to topple over and crash right into her, followed by the second plate being thrown forwards, almost slamming into Steven who had to quickly dodge it. Both Lapis and Amethyst watched in amusement, and neither of them could hold back their laughter.

"Nice going, Peri," Amethyst commented snarkily, only to get a scowl as a reply from the little gem.

"You're cleaning that up," Lapis said dryly, folding her arms.

"But Amethyst was the one who distracted me!" she protested, grabbing the piece of metal that had landed next to her. "She should at least _help_."

"Nah, I'm good." She flopped over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "I've earned my right to rest."

"From _what_?"

"I was the one who found that string." She pointed a finger and the wool that Steven was gathering off of the floor.

She snickered as she heard the sounds of her irritated mumbling, before kicking up one leg over the other as she continued to stare at the ceiling, her eyes admiring the bright green bubble floating far above her. She heard Peridot and Steven converse among themselves, but she didn't bother listening in to what exactly it was they were talking about. Honestly, she was just glad to be able to sit back and relax, considering the fact that she could hardly do that back at the temple anymore, and last night had certainly been a ride, whether that be being chased down by the cops because of Pearl's surprisingly reckless (but totally hardcore) behaviour or Jasper being close to reverting, or possibly both.

"Hey… Amethyst?"

An unexpected voice distracted her from her thoughts. She turned her head to the figure who had spoken her name, and was now sitting next to her with her legs crossed.

"Oh, hey, Lapis." She looked up at her with a lazy grin. "What is it?"

Lapis pursed her lips as her eyes trailed the ground. "I… um… was just going to ask how Jasper was doing."

She paused. And blinked. She hadn't expected to hear that from the ocean gem.

She sat up so that she was at eye-level. "Um, she's fine… I guess." She shrugged. "I mean, obviously this morning we got a lil' freaked out, but all is good, I suppose. Why'd you ask?"

Lapis rubbed her arm. "No reason."

"You sure? I mean, I know stuff between you two was pretty rough." She noticed her shift uncomfortably, so she quickly backtracked what she had just said. "But, I mean, you both haven't really seen each other in ages. Heck, you were out of it the last time you were together."

For the first time, she glanced at her with a dark blue gaze as remorse flashed in her eyes for a split second.

"So, Steven didn't tell any of you about…"

Hm? "'Bout what?"

She bit her lip anxiously. "A while ago… Steven, his dad and and I went on a boat trip-"

"Oh, yeah! He told us about that."

Lapis had a scared look on her face, which confused Amethyst slightly. "Didn't the boat hit a rock or something, so you had to fly them both home?" She chuckled. "Leave it to Greg to crash a boat."

The blue gem looked at her sadly. "That's… not what happened."

Amethyst raised a brow. "What?"

"On that trip… Jasper found me. She was following me the whole time."

She widened her eyes. She had no idea about this.

"Woah, really?" She leaned forward. "What went down?"

Her mouth twitched as she rubbed the back of her neck. "She… asked me to fuse with her." Her eyes darkened at the memory. "Obviously, I said no… but it was horrible." She tucked her knees towards her chest and draped her arms around her legs. "I don't like to think about it."

So, apparently this had happened. It was easy to guess that Steven hadn't shared any of this, as it wasn't really any of the gems' business; it was clear this was a sensitive subject for Lapis.

In fact, looking back to how she had acted around Lapis before, she felt kinda bad. Granted, she'd never really considered Lapis to be a gem she would get along with, but she was completely aware that she had had it pretty rough.

"Yo… sorry, dude," she said guiltily. Lapis glanced at her, surprised.

"It's okay, it's not your fault."

"No, no…" She shook her head. "I mean, sorry about before. Y'know, about… turning into Jasper right in front of you."

Her eyebrows raised in realisation. "Oh, that…" Her head sank in between her shoulders. "That's… that's okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, cool."

There was a brief silence between them.

"So… what were you two talking about last night?" Lapis then asked. Amethyst looked up at her.

"Jasper and I? Oh, just…" She paused for a moment, to actually think. What would Jasper say if she found out she had spilled some of her personal stuff to someone who she really _didn't_ like?

Well, she probably wouldn't say anything. She'd just pummel her into the ground, right there and then.

"...She was just telling me about how much Earth sucked." Not really a lie, to be fair. She would've given herself a pat on the back had Lapis not been sitting right in front of her.

"Right." Lapis lifted her head off of her knees and settled it in the palm of her hand. "At least she has something to talk about." A ghost of a smile lingered on her lips. "Also, sorry about what she said about you."

Amethyst went from a friendly smile to an alert expression. "Wait, how'd you find out about that?"

Her deep blue eyes slowly moved the green gem holding the pieces of metal in midair. This was enough for Amethyst to understand.

"Oh. Well, yeah, that sucked." Her face scrunched up as she thought back to the unpleasant events. "But hey, all's good now."

Lapis smiled at her sweetly. "That's good." She then shyly looked away. "Say, um… could you make sure that Jasper doesn't… revert?"

Amethyst fluttered her lashes. "Oh, um, sure. We weren't really planning on not making sure that doesn't happen, but y'know."

She weakly laughed. "Good. Thanks." Her mouth retreated behind her knees while she looked over to her two friends fiddling with the wool and metal, before letting out a light chuckle. Wondering what was so amusing, she followed her eyes over to Steven, who was attempting to unravel Peridot out of a long thread of wool that was knotted around her upper torso.

"Maybe we should help them," she suggested. Amethyst nodded in agreement.

"You think?"


End file.
